The women of VfL Wolfsburg haven't had that feeling for a long time. After 23 Bundesliga victories, they leave the field as losers. They are much more annoyed about their performance than about the end of the series. That annoys superstar Alexandra Popp enormously.
The visibly upset Alexandra Popp was not interested in numbers and statistics after her VfL Wolfsburg's first defeat of the season. Rather, the performance of the German champions after the unexpected 1: 2 against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim made it difficult for the national soccer player. "What just annoys me was the way we lost," she said on NDR. "Because it was just not enough, because we have a lot more quality, both defensively and offensively, the goals came too easily with two long balls." That annoys her the most, "than basically losing a game".
The Bundesliga defeat against Hoffenheim was as surprising as it was deserved, as Popp also admitted. The game had started well for the leaders. After just 45 seconds, the hosts took the lead through former Hoffenheim player Jule Brand. Sarai Linder (44') managed to equalize for the guests shortly before the break, Austria's Nicole Billa (70') made the surprise perfect.
The series that ended with this expresses the long-standing national dominance of the Wolfsburg women: For the first time after 23 wins, they lost again in the Bundesliga. The last defeat was on October 17, 2021, also 2-1 away to Hoffenheim. Linder's equalizer was the first Bundesliga goal conceded by VfL since October 2022. And the VfL women's last home defeat was on November 2, 2016 with a 1-0 loss to Turbine Potsdam.
"We've been very stable for over a year so we knew this moment would come," said coach Tommy Stroot. He also knew that his team hadn't come close to reaching their usual level on Saturday. "For us, it's about looking ahead again relatively quickly," he said. "Today we got a few issues that we want to tackle. We know we can do better."
