Wolfsburg's Schult on Paris, stadium, injuries

Having only scraped past FC Rosengård on away goals after two quarter-final draws, VfL Wolfsburg continue their bid for a third straight UEFA Women's Champions League title when Paris Saint-Germain visit their new AOK Stadium for the first leg of their last-four tie on Saturday. Goalkeeper Almuth Schult, part of last season's European triumph in her first Wolfsburg campaign, gives her thoughts on the game, Paris's German contingent, the new arena and Wolfsburg's current injury crisis.

UEFA.com: How do you rate your chances of reaching another UEFA Women's Champions League final?

Almuth Schult: The chances are real. Paris have a lot of quality in their squad, so it's 50-50. It depends how the first leg at home goes; if things look good for us then it might be to our advantage, but it could be to our disadvantage if Paris score an away goal, for example. It will be good promotion for women's football and an exciting game. I hope a lot of fans come and I hope it will be us reaching the final.

UEFA.com: How strong are Paris compared with your quarter-final victims Rosengård?

Schult: They play a different style of football from the Swedish champions. But when you look at the names of the girls playing for Paris, we know the German internationals like Annike Krahn, Josi Henning, Lira Alushi, even Linda Bresonik who has been injured a lot but is fit again. On top of that, you have all the French players. They have a lot of quality and they know how to play football – they can even play really good football. Of course they had some problems against Lyon, they are always battling with Lyon, but they didn't qualify for the semi-final just through luck.

UEFA.com: You mentioned the German players at Paris – have you spoken with them about that game? Is there a bit of banter going on?

Schult: Yes, there is a bit of banter. They are looking forward to playing against a German team, in our new stadium. They have read and heard about it, and we've told them it is a lot of fun to play there, that the pitch is great. It's great to play football on a nice grass pitch. It will be a good battle, they are looking forward to it, we are looking forward to it, and these are the best possible conditions.

UEFA.com: How much did you enjoy playing the first European game in your new stadium [against Rosengård]?

Schult: Yes, there was a special atmosphere for that Champions League game, it had an international flavour. We didn't know if we could keep our unbeaten run from the Elsterweg [stadium]. But so far it's worked out fine, whether in the Bundesliga or in the Champions League. Now I would say we've forgotten about the Elsterweg and we are happy that the spectators are closer now. We hope the roof will be done this summer so that it looks more complete, but we are very, very happy that the club has made this possible. We are thankful to the city to have allowed us to have our own stadium – it's really appreciated to have our own stadium that we share with the [men's] Under-23 team. We are very happy.

UEFA.com: You played against Paris in a pre-season friendly and won 2-0. Is there anything you can take from a game like that?

Schult: It is difficult, because that was nine months ago – Paris have developed, we have developed. Maybe some other players will be in the lineup, maybe some will be injured or some new players have come in. We're in the middle of the season now and it was different at the beginning. But overall we are familiar with their system – I don't know if they always play like that, but it is not that unknown to us any more. It was similar for the Rosengård tie, as we played against [predecessor club FCR] Malmö the season before and they were not an unknown opponent to us, we knew their mentality.

Almuth Schult celebrates Wolfsburg's 2014 triumph with Josephine Henning - now of Paris©Sportsfile

UEFA.com: What kind of achievement would it be for Wolfsburg to win a third consecutive UEFA Women's Champions League title?

Schult: It would be incredible, it's never happened before. It was already incredible to do it twice in a row. If you look at the records, Wolfsburg have never lost in the Champions League. When you look at that, you can only shake your head. We all hope it will continue like that. But if we should win the title a third time, I don't know what we could say ...

UEFA.com: How do you cope with the burden of playing demanding games in league, cup and UEFA Women's Champions League? Do you enjoy it as a player, or is it difficult to play so many games and focus in such a short time?

Schult: I would say we enjoy it. It's a highlight, that's why we play football – we want to experience games like that, we want to compete at such a high level, we want the tension, we want the emotion. That's what we crave. But of course it's difficult when you look at the end of the season, at how many players are injured.

UEFA.com: Despite a lot of injuries, you've had an incredible run in the league, conceding very few goals. What's the secret?

Schult: It's true we've had a lot of injuries, especially now. But you can see we are a team, we have great team spirit – you've seen in the last few years that we can come back no matter what the scoreboard says. That's what characterises our team, we all fight for each other, it's our duty as a team and that is the key to success – the fact we are a team from keeper to striker.