WHAT HAPPENED
By: Mark Ashenden
We gave ourselves hope of reaching the semi-final of the Champions League for the first time since 2013 after Lotte Wubben-Moy blasted in a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Wolfsburg at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.
Jonas Eidevall's side rode their luck at times in a lively first leg, with the German visitors twice hitting the post, but the draw was fully deserved after Wolfsburg had taken an early lead through Tabea Wassmuth’s header.
Katie McCabe, Kim Little and Stina Blackstenius were the three survivors in a much-changed starting XI from Friday’s 4-0 FA Cup win over Coventry United.
It was a lively start from us and we came close to an opener within the first two minutes after the impressive Beth Mead burst through the visitors’ defence, only to see her low shot slide wide.
Wolfsburg, in their 10th consecutive quarter-final, seemed happy to sit back, relying on the long ball but against the run of play they took a shock lead.
Wassmuth found space in the box and after seeing her first shot brilliantly parried away by Manuela Zinsberger, was seconds later nodding the ball into the net after a looping cross from Joelle Wedemeyer.
We were lucky not to go two down a few minutes later when unmarked Alexandra Popp headed just over.
Beth Mead and Blackstenius continued to threaten with their pace and strength, but it was McCabe who got the crowd pumped up with a smart header scrambled away after a deep cross from Steph Catley.
Blackstenius was in the thick of the action after the break, a scooped effort drifted back agonisingly across goal and in the next attack, the Swede thought she had equalised only to be denied by an offside flag.
We were moving through the gears and Mead was again menacing the Wolfsburg defence and pulled a shot wide after great control in the box.
During a frantic minute on the hour, we had the woodwork to thank twice for keeping the score down with Wassmuth and Jill Roord seeing shots rebounding back off the post.
Tobin Heath and Nikita Parris were introduced late on and it looked to be ending in disappointment, but Tobin Heath had other ideas as her free-kick was neatly taken down by Wubben-Moy, who slotted in to send the home dugout into a frenzy.
WHAT IT MEANS
Wolfsburg will welcome us back at the Volkswagen Arena in the second leg on Thursday, March 31 and we'll be hoping that our late comeback will prove to be the inspiration to overturn the Bundesliga leaders.
WHAT’S NEXT
It’s the big one and it’s back to the domestic stage as we host host Tottenham Hotspurs in the WSL on Saturday at Emirates Stadium (kick-off 2.15pm UK time).
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