Wolfsburg set for 100th Women's Champions League game: Their greatest matches

No side have quite made an immediate impact upon UEFA women's club competition as Wolfsburg did after their European debut in 2012/13.

Uniquely, they won their first two UEFA Women's Champions League campaigns, in their maiden season dethroning a Lyon side that had not lost in years and 12 months later triumphing in probably the most exciting final in the competition's history. Wolfsburg haven't added another title since, but they have got to the decider another four times, and set a record streak by reaching 11 quarter-finals in their first 11 Champions League seasons.

As they prepare to become only the third club, after regular rivals Lyon and Arsenal, to bring up 100 fixtures in this competition as they host Galatasaray on Wednesday, we look back at some of the most memorable of those previous 99 Champions League games.

2012/13 final: Wolfsburg 1-0 Lyon

Wolfsburg earned a European debut in 2012/13, before they had ever won a major trophy, well aware that three of the four previous German contenders – Frankfurt, Turbine Potsdam and Duisburg – had claimed the UEFA title at the first time of asking. But with Alex Popp, Viola Odebrecht and Luisa Wensing newly added to an already all-star squad including Lena Goessling, Conny Pohlers, Martina Müller and captain Nadine Kessler, and coach Ralf Kellermann announcing that his team wanted "to continue the German tradition", Wolfsburg cruised past Unia Racibórz, Røa, Rossiyanka and Arsenal, only conceding a single draw, to reach the Stamford Bridge final.

However, waiting in London were a Lyon team aiming for a then unprecedented third straight title, whose narrowest aggregate margin of victory in their run had been 8-0, and were unbeaten in well over 100 competitive matches. Unsurprisingly, Lyon had most the play, but a team that had already racked up more than 200 goals for the season could find no way through and with 17 minutes to go Laura Georges handled in the Lyon box and Martina Müller converted what proved the winner from the spot.

That meant Wolfsburg went from never having won a major trophy to competing a treble, having already clinched the German league and cup. Lyon have had plenty of revenge in the years since, not least in three finals, but Wolfsburg have remained fierce competitors with OL and their group meetings this season are the joint-record seventh campaign in which they have faced off.

What they said:

Martina Müller, winning goalscorer: "We knew it would be difficult to stop them completely, but our coaches prepared us well, showing us how to act in certain situations, and I think it worked out pretty well. We could have pressed a bit more in certain situations, but in the end it was enough, and that is what counts."

2013/14 final: Tyresö 3-4 Wolfsburg

In contrast to 12 months earlier in London, the 2013/14 final in Lisbon cast Wolfsburg as the defending champions taking on the ambitious debutants, Sweden's Tyresö, boasting Marta, Caroline Seger, Verónica Boquete and Christen Press among others. Malmö (the future Rosengård), Barcelona and Potsdam were among Wolfsburg's victims on the way to the final, which was to prove as dramatic as the 2013 decider was tense.

Tyresö tore into Wolfsburg early on as Lyon had the year before, but this time Kellermann's side found themselves 2-0 down at the break through Marta and Boquete. The second half was just over a minute old when Popp pulled one back and Müller soon broke away to equalise.

Marta almost immediately curled in to put Tyresö 3-2 in front but, on her 25th birthday, substitute Verena Faisst was set up by Popp to level. Ten minutes remained when Kessler embarked on a solo run into the box and cut back for Müller to get another final winner. Only Umeå and Lyon had previously accomplished a successful title defence, Barcelona becoming the fourth club to do so last season.

What they said:

Ralf Kellermann, winning coach: "When I looked into their eyes at half-time during the team talk, I could see the motivation and the determination that we could come back. Right away after that we scored our first goal, and then the belief increased and the team did great. And their third goal didn't really bother us; the team kept on believing, and it was sensational."

2015/16 semi-final first leg: Wolfsburg 4-0 Frankfurt

Paris Saint-Germain finally inflicted a first European defeat on Wolfsburg in their 25th fixture to dethrone them in the 2014/15 semis; Frankfurt were to keep the title in Germany with victory in the Berlin decider. The loss to Paris was in a home first leg, and it was in another at the same stage a year later that now defending champions Frankfurt came to Wolfsburg.

By half-time Wolfsburg were 3-0 up as Isabel Kerschowski turned in Ramona Bachmann's seventh-minute cross, Popp struck from distance and Babett Peter headed home. Bachmann got an opportunist fourth, but the first 45 minutes had pretty much decided the tie and Wolfsburg could even afford a 1-0 second-leg defeat.

The tie confirmed Wolfsburg as Germany's dominant force (four-time European champions Frankfurt have not reached the knockout phase or won a major honour since), although they did lose the 2015/16 final on penalties to Lyon.

What they said:

Alex Popp, goalscorer: "Hats off to the team for that display. We gave it everything from the first minute and just kept on going. Everything went perfectly to plan."

2019/20 semi-final: Wolfsburg 1-0 Barcelona

Wolfsburg also fell to Lyon in the 2016/17 last eight, 2017/18 final (after extra time) and 2018/19 quarters, but completed the German doubles in all those seasons and looked the main threats to OL again in 2019/20. But a new force was emerging – Barcelona, who reached the 2018/19 final (though suffered the same fate against Lyon as Wolfsburg had in the 2015/16 and 2017/18 finals).

Since 2016, the Wolfsburg team had evolved with the likes of Pernille Harder, Svenja Huth and Ewa Pajor now alongside Popp, Bachmann and other stalwarts (though Caroline Graham Hansen had joined Barcelona in 2019), while Kellermann was now sporting director with Stephan Lerch the coach. The 2019/20 Champions League was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and decided by an eight-team knockout tournament in San Sebastián and Bilbao.

Wolfsburg opened in San Sebastián by beating Glasgow City 9-1 but next up was a first-ever meeting with Barcelona. The Blaugrana had the better of the early exchanges but Wolfsburg's experience started to tell and just before the hour mark Huth's cross was only partially cleared and Pajor's overhead kick fell to Fridolina Rolfö to poke in.

Barcelona pressed for an equaliser but Wolfsburg held on. However, they were to suffer yet another final defeat by Lyon, but that 2019/20 semi remains the only time Barcelona have been knocked out before the decider since 2017/18.

What they said:

Fridolina Rolfö, goalscorer: "We were talking at half-time about the need to keep calm, keep the ball, not get too stressed and try to score a goal. It says a lot about the club that everybody wants to win and has a strong winning mentality, even if we didn't play our best. We were a little bit lucky but I'm so proud that we did it."

2021/22 group stage Matchday 6: Wolfsburg 4-0 Chelsea

If Lyon had become a bit of a bogey team, Chelsea probably felt the same way about Wolfsburg, as the German side knocked them out in the 2015/16 round of 16, 2016/17 last 32 and 2017/18 semis, winning both legs each time. The 2020/21 quarter-finals, each game behind closed doors in Budapest due to COVID travel restrictions, were a different matter, with Chelsea victorious twice and Harder, who had moved to London in the summer of 2020, on target both times; the Blues were to reach their first final.

They were swiftly rematched in the newly-introduced group stage, and Harder again haunted Wolfsburg in the first match, equalising in added time as Chelsea came back from 3-1 down to draw at Kingsmeadow. A home defeat by Juventus meant that when they met again on Matchday 6 in Germany, Wolfsburg likely needed a two-goal margin of victory over Chelsea to reach an unprecedented tenth consecutive quarter-final.

Within 23 minutes Wolfsburg had a two-goal lead, Huth on target both times. Chelsea, facing a shock early elimination just months after that final appearance, tried to launch a comeback early in the second half but Tabea Wassmuth (now Sellner) made it 3-0 on the hour and struck again in the 78th minute to finish as top scorer in that inaugural group stage on eight goals. Wolfsburg's run was to be ended in the semi-finals by Barcelona, the first leg at Camp Nou watched by a world record 91,648 fans.

What they said:

Svenja Huth, double goalscorer: "We believed in ourselves from the very beginning. We produced an unbelievable team performance and deserved to win 4-0 and finish as group winners."

2022/23 semi-final second leg: Arsenal 2-3 Wolfsburg (aet)

A decade earlier, Wolfsburg had reached their first final by knocking out Arsenal, and in 2021/22 the Gunners also fell to the She-Wolves in the last eight. Wolfsburg, just as when Chelsea came to visit in that group decider, quickly went into a two-goal first-leg lead but Arsenal came away from Germany with a 2-2 result.

More than 60,000 fans were at Arsenal Stadium for the return, and most were thrilled when Stina Blackstenius struck for the home side on 11 minutes. Former Arsenal player Jill Roord levelled late in the first half and Popp got her 150th Wolfsburg goal just before the hour. Popp had played in the 2012/13 semi-final and so had Arsenal's Jennifer Beattie, who forced extra time with a 75th-minute header.

The tie seemed to be heading for penalties after Katie McCabe had hit the bar for Arsenal, but there was to be an unlikely 119th-minute Wolfsburg hero. Pauline Bremer, whose departure after three injury-hampered years at the club had already been announced, had come off the bench for extra time and slid in at the far post to turn home Jule Brand's centre.

Wolfsburg were to be victims of a comeback in the Eindhoven decider as they led Barcelona by two at the break only to lose 3-2.

Their run of reaching the quarter-finals on their first 11 entries was ended last season as they lost in round 2 to Paris FC, but Wolfsburg are back in the group stage this year with high hopes of another long run as they bring up their century.

What they said:

Tommy Stroot, winning coach: "Moments like that are part of why I became a coach, when the whistle goes and I see everyone run on to the pitch and can just be proud of what's happened. Pauli [Bremer] has an incredible mentality. Even with all the injury setbacks that she's had, she's always kept going.