Pohlers's 'bonus' as Wolfsburg beat Røa

VfL Wolfsburg came from behind to inflict an emphatic 4-1 defeat on Røa IL in the first leg of their UEFA Women's Champions League round of 16 tie in Germany.

Wolfsburg's campaign looked in danger all of a sudden when the Norwegian visitors took the lead midway through the first half, Emilie Haavi scoring with a thunderous long-range effort. However, Zsanett Jakabfi combined with Alexandra Popp to give Wolfsburg a deserved half-time lead after a Gunhild Herregården own goal had restored parity, and it was one-way traffic thereafter. Popp and Conny Pohlers ensured Ralf Kellermann's side of a sizeable advantage heading into Wednesday's return leg.

Pohler, whose effort took her level with Hanna Ljungberg's record of 39 goals in UEFA women's club competition, knows Wolfsburg could have enjoyed an easier ride, while Haavi conceded that Røa ran out of steam.

Conny Pohlers, Wolfsburg forward
The most important thing was to win the game, so I am very happy we did that. It is a big personal bonus for me to equal the scoring record. We had a lot of chances and it would have made the game easier for us if we'd taken them earlier. Thankfully we managed to score in the end. We had no idea how the Norwegian team would play and they were fortunate to score such a great goal. We created so many chances that we were always confident we would eventually win.

Viola Odebrecht, Wolfsburg midfielder
We started slowly in the first 20 minutes, which has been a problem for us this season. We've had a wake-up call in every game and that came with their fantastic opening goal. We are just making things more difficult for ourselves because we are always coming from behind. We have to talk about this and improve the way we start because we can't let that happen again. We are obviously the better team. Tonight was a good first step but I want more.

Verena Faisst, Wolfsburg defender
We played well but we wasted a lot of chances to score; it should have been over earlier. We must make sure we are more clinical in front of goal. But we are happy with the result and I think 4-1 is a good score to take into the second leg.

Emilie Haavi, Røa goalscorer
We knew Wolfsburg would be a very strong team and they showed it. It was great to take the lead. I saw their goalkeeper off her line and just took a chance with a long-range shot. It was a pretty nice goal for me. They had a lot of the ball and they pushed us back, especially in the second half. They had a lot of chances and we just couldn't keep them out.

It took them a while to score the third and fourth goals so while it was 2-1 we hoped we could keep fighting and maybe even score another ourselves. We were still in the game for a long time but it was a fair result. In the end they could have scored even more goals.