Draw reaction: Wolfsburg, Paris, LSK, Frankfurt
Monday, October 19, 2015
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We have the reaction from the last-16 draw including Wolfsburg's Ralf Kellermann on playing Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain's Farid Benstiti on his FIFA coach award nomination.
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After the UEFA Women's Champions League round of 16 draw was made in Nyon on Monday, UEFA.com caught up with some of the key figures attending the ceremony.
Wolfsburg coach Ralf Kellermann spoke about drawing Chelsea, his club having won their first European title at the Londoners' men's stadium Stamford Bridge in 2013. Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain's Farid Benstiti was proud of his nomination as one of ten candidates for FIFA Women's World Coach of the Year and also discussed taking on KIF Örebro. Plus the coaches of last-16 rivals LSK Kvinner and FFC Frankfurt previewed their tie.
The draw (ties 11/12 & 18/19 November)
FC Twente (NED) v FC Barcelona (ESP)
Brescia (ITA) v Fortuna Hjørring (DEN)
Atlético Madrid (ESP) v Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
Slavia Praha (CZE) v Zvezda-2005 (RUS)
Chelsea (ENG) v Wolfsburg (GER)
KIF Örebro (SWE) v Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
Verona (ITA) v Rosengård (SWE)
LSK Kvinner (NOR) v FFC Frankfurt (GER, holders)
Ralf Kellermann, Wolfsburg coach (v Chelsea)
We are looking forward to it. It's a big hurdle for us, and the name of Chelsea is good for marketing reasons as well. We hope a lot of fans will come to the match. But we know it will be a difficult tie.
It was outstanding [in 2013] at Stamford Bridge, to win the Champions League for the first time [in the final against Lyon]. We knocked out Arsenal in the semi-finals as well, so we have good memories and had a good experience in London in general. We hope to repeat that.
We want to win it, but we are not the only ones – there are many top clubs this season. But our objective is to make it as far as possible. And standing here now, we can see the trophy. We won it twice but had to give it back sadly, so we will try everything to bring it back to Wolfsburg.
Farid Bensititi, Paris coach (v Örebro)
[On his FIFA Women's World Coach of the Year nomination] I'm really moved, really happy. And I'd say it's an honour, not only for our team but for football as well. It's not just a reward for this year, but for work done in past years too – years where I think I've put in a lot of work for the development of our sport. It's now becoming a global sport and is very quickly becoming as important as men's football.
[On the draw] It's difficult because they're a great team. I think it's going to be a tight match. We're always focused on the trophy, we want the win with everything we have. We were disappointed [to lose the 2015 final to Frankfurt] because it was really close – that's why we really want to come back stronger this year.
We've tried to improve our team. I don't know if I can say that we'll be stronger at the end of the season, but we've done what we wanted to do. We have players joining us who are really starting to be ready, so I hope that by November they'll be 100%. That's when we'll see the real Paris Saint-Germain.
Monica Knudsen, LSK coach (v Frankfurt)
It's a really tough draw but we will do our best and give them a hard fight. Anything is possible in football, we will prepare well and do a good job. We are really looking forward to it. This is the kind of game that will make us better and give us a reference point at this level. It is good for us, no matter how it turns out in the end.
It was a good feeling [to win the only round of 32 tie to go to extra time]. Zürich scored two minutes before the end of the game, but we showed a lot of character in extra time.
We are proud about that, and also about coming home and winning the next league game and winning the title – that is good for the group and gives us confidence. We can use our upcoming league matches to prepare for the Champions League and give them a hard battle.
Siegfried Dietrich, Frankfurt general manager (v LSK)
We're facing the Norwegian champions, which will be a great challenge. They are champions again and have already qualified [for next season's competition]. They won very narrowly against Zürich, but that means nothing. They will give everything they have to get to the next round.
They have a lot of internationals in their ranks, including six or seven Norwegian internationals and also players from other countries. So for ourselves, the holders, it won't be an easy task. But if we can perform the way we can, then it should be a doable task. We're taking things step by step and we want to make it to the next round which is the quarter-final.
During the draw today they showed a video and the memories came back from the [2015] Champions League final – that gives you goosebumps. After a draw like this you look ahead positively and want to make it there again. But first we have to beat the Norwegian champions, playing two good matches to make it to the quarter-finals. That is the challenge we are ready for.