Tabea Wassmuth key to Wolfsburg's Champions League hopes

Lethal in front of goal, cool under pressure, lightning quick and a strong finisher: Wolfsburg's Tabea Wassmuth has just about all of the attributes a coach would look for in a striker — and she has been a key part of the Wolves' Champions League campaign.

One of her most important performances came in the first Group A match against last year's finalists Chelsea, in which the 25-year-old scored twice in Wolfsburg's 3-3 draw in London. Both goals showed off her work rate and predatory instincts as she capitalized on mistakes with clinical finishes.    

Another brace in the reverse fixture against Chelsea on home soil would be warmly welcomed as Wolfsburg need a result on Thursday. The She-Wolves are in third place in Group A, level on points with Juventus in second place — based on the Italian side's better record in their head-to-head meetings.

If Wolfsburg want to keep things simple, a win would book their ticket to the quarterfinals on account of their better head-to-head record against Chelsea. Fail to win and they have to hope that Servette take points off Juventus, which given that the Swiss side are yet to score, let alone pick up a point in the Women's Champions League, is unlikely.   

As a result, it ultimately amounts to a showdown between two of the top scorers of the group stage, as Wassmuth faces off with Chelsea's Samantha Kerr, who has four goals to her six.

Move from Hoffenheim

Tabea Wassmuth is in her first season in the Autostadt, having moved to Wolfsburg from Hoffenheim in the summer. She ruled out a possible move abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the only option to her mind being Wolfsburg. 

"I'm very happy to be able to play for VfL Wolfsburg, and it fills me with pride to wear the jersey of one of the best clubs in Europe," she said at the time. 

"Tabea's development has been impressive, especially in the last two years," said Ralf Kellermann, the Wolfsburg women's sporting director prior to the transfer. "She is currently one of the fastest offensive players in the entire league. I am sure that now is the right time for both sides to take this step." 

More than a decade at Hoffenheim 

For Wassmuth, it was the next logical step for her career path. She was just 5 years old when she first turned up at Karlsruher SV, where she was the only girl playing on a boy's team. Her coach at the time was so impressed with her that he managed to get her a tryout with Hoffenheim, and she joined that club's youth program in 2008.  

She made her debut in Hoffenheim's Women's Bundesliga squad and made her first appearance for Germany in September 2020. So far, she has four goals in 13 appearances for the national team. 

While at 25 she is no longer a particularly young player, she still stands to benefit from the experience of the more established players like Alexandra Popp or Almuth Schult, who were among those who helped her ease into life at Wolfsburg after 12 years in Hoffenheim. 

"I was given a great welcome from day one," Wassmuth told DFB.de. "The time has really flown by. We have already experienced a lot. It's a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to everything that's to come." 

The way they do things at Wolfsburg is just a little bit more professional than at Hoffenheim. I'm thinking of the training times and many other little things that they help us out with. You get even more things taken care of so that you can deliver your very best performance on the pitch." 

Doctoral thesis 

However, she also credits Hoffenheim for supporting players who wanted to pursue academic studies — including by offering an elite sports scholarship at the University of Mannheim. In 2021, Wassmuth completed her master's degree in psychology — now she is working on her doctorate. She is developing a neurological rehabilitation training program for stroke patients. 

It's an ambitious project for the lively attacker, who feels most at home on the right side — but her ambitions are similarly lofty on the pitch. 

"I wouldn't have anything against winning a title or two, I haven't won that many so far," she said understatedly.

Even if it doesn't work out in the Champions League this year, there are other titles up for grabs: Wolfsburg finished the first half of the Women's Bundesliga season in first place.

This article was translated from German