By CAITLIN MURRAY
Tyresö looked poised Thursday to win the women’s UEFA Women’s Champions League — twice. But VfL Wolfsburg surged back twice for their second straight Champions League title, edging out Tyresö, 4-3, and producing an instant classic of a match.
Tyresö — led by former U.S. Women’s National Team assistant coach Tony Gustavsson and featuring USWNT players Christen Press, Whitney Engen and Meghan Klingenberg — had dominated the match early and left Wolfsburg looking largely ineffective. Sweden’s Tyresö seemed to have a clear path to victory as two goals in two minutes from Marta and Veronica Boquete gave Tyresö the 2-0 lead at the half.
But Germany’s Wolfsburg emerged from the locker room with a renewed sense of purpose, with Alex Popp scoring within their first two minutes back and Martina Muller scoring five minutes after that. Marta and Wolfsburg’s Verena Faisst exchanged a goal each before Muller’s 80th-minute game-winner clinched the final result for Wolfsburg.
With the end of Champions League, Press will head to the Chicago Red Stars and both Engen and Klingberg will join the Houston Dash to join the National Women’s Soccer League season already in progress.
Check out match highlights below:
Also, Vero Boquete of Spain will be joining the Portland Thorns of the NWSL.