Rossiyanka gain hope from Wolfsburg own goal

FC Rossiyanka had an own goal to thank for keeping them in their UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-final with VfL Wolfsburg.

Alex Popp and Martina Müller gave Wolfsburg an early 2-0 lead and the Russian visitors also had Olesya Mashina sent off before the break. But Josephine Henning put through her own net to give Rossiyanka real hope of making a first semi-final when the teams rejoin at Moscow's Stadion Luzhniki next Thursday.

Rossiyanka have lost both their previous quarter-finals to German opposition and got a familiar feeling when Popp broke the deadlock on five minutes from close range after being set up by Luisa Wensing. Popp almost immediately doubled the advantage, but her left-footed shot went over the bar and she also went close with a header.

Out of the blue Rossiyanka nearly levelled when a free-kick curled inside the near post and Olga Petrova forced a terrific safe from Alisa Vetterlein. However, at the other end Popp was a constant thread, another header narrowly missed the target.

Just past the half-hour Wolfsburg scored with a virtual carbon copy of the first goal, this time Zsanett Jakabfi the provider and Müller the scorer. Rossiyanka were relieved when Popp missed one-on-one with Elvira Todua and Verena Faisst's free-kick rattled the crossbar. That came after a foul on Popp for which Mashina were dismissed.

But in the first minute of the second half Henning turned into her own net and Wolfsburg's momentum was slowed as snowfall picked up in earnest, the game having already been moved on Monday to this arena from the VfL Stadion. Müller forced a save from Todua and as Wolfsburg pushed hard in the last 15 minutes, the goalkeeper again denied Popp before Viola Odebrecht's header went wide.