Rösler’s shot hit the heart of Valcea

As the final whistle was blown, she first could not realise what had happened but then Ania Rösler and her team mates in 1. FC Nürnberg started to celebrate.

Only a few seconds were left in the first Main Round match between the German champions and Oltchim Valcea when FCN coach Herbert Müller tried their last chance for a point. He substituted goalkeeper Marianna Gubova for a seventh field player, Rösler.

Two seconds to play: Rösler gets the ball in right back position and shoots straight in the corner of the goal. The match finished 28:28 – the next real big sensation of Nürnberg, against clear favourites once again.

FCN, the first German club ever to reach the best eight teams in the Women’s CL, remains unbeaten at home, while Oltchim Valcea, big favourites for the CL, lost their first point in this year’s competition after six victories in the group phase.

Romanian coach, Gheorghe Tadici, seemed to be so disappointed that he did not attend the post match press conference. His colleague Herbert Müller was highly enthusiastic about this draw:

“We never, never, never expected this result. It was like a dream come true.”

Ania Rösler explained the decisive moment of the match:

“I closed my eyes and shot – and the next thing I saw was celebration.”

Valcea, that missed some key players due to injuries, did not play in their best form. The first halftime was totally close as only pivot Stanca (best scorer with eight goals) and center back Bese showed ambitious to win. Tadici changed his goalkeepers very often as especially the legendary Luminita Dinu didn’t start well. But also Nürnberg missed some great chances and seemed to be surprised that Valcea did not take a quick lead.

With 15:15 both teams made some changes. And then Nürnberg slept for some minutes, Valcea increased the gap to four goals (20:16) and seemed to win the match. But the Germans fought back and goalkeeper Gubova made some great saves.

“50 percent of this draw is due to Marianna Gubova,” said Müller after the match. And the 1,600 spectators in the completely sold out hall made a lot of noise and supported their team to score the equaliser.

As Ania Rösler missed some chances, Müller brought Steffi Ofenböck – and her comeback after the birth of her daughter Mia was brilliant: three shots, three goals. Ofenböck equalised at 24:24 (54th min.) and 27:27 (57th).

In the last minutes both goalkeepers, Gubova and Dinu (the Romanian was superb in the second half), were better than the field players. And then Rösler’s shot went straight into the corner. Now Nürnberg hope for even more:

“This was the strongest opponent in our group, maybe we can win against Győr or Togliatti at home,” Rösler said.