Alex Popp on Wolfsburg's Women's Champions League final against Barcelona

Alex Popp's relationship with the UEFA Women's Champions League goes back a long way.

As a teenager Popp was in the Duisburg side that won the UEFA Women's Cup in its final season before being rebranded. Having moved to Wolfsburg in 2012 as they were making their European debut, Popp was part of the She-Wolves' Champions League successes in 2013 and 2014, but also their final defeats of 2016, 2018 and 2020.

Wolfsburg are now back in the final, where they face Barcelona in Eindhoven on Saturday. Captain Popp has been an inspirational part of their run in a season where she was, for the first time in her career, Frauen Bundesliga top scorer, as well as leading markswoman in the German Cup, which Wolfsburg won for the ninth year running. That came off the back of her extraordinary six-goal performance for Germany at UEFA Women's EURO 2022, where injury kept her out of the final against England.

As Popp seeks to claim her fourth UEFA club crown and equal Ada Hegerberg's record of scoring in the final in four separate seasons (after 2014, 2016 and 2020), she speaks about Wolfsburg's Eindhoven challenge and her experience in this fixture over the years.

Alex Popp in the 2009 final for Duisburg, aged 18Bongarts/Getty Images

On facing Barcelona

The best way is to not let them play. If they have the ball and start playing their tiki-taka football, and you're too late going in for a challenge, then it's really tough to get the ball.

We have to try and take away their enjoyment of the game, probably with high pressing as well. I don't actually know. I don't want to give too much away. [We want to] put them under pressure really early so they can't play their game.

On going a step further than last season

We had players that had never played in the Champions League before last year. Last year, they were able to gain experience and that was noticeable this year. We were calmer as a team, collectively.

We were able to enjoy and experience it because everyone knew what was about to come. That makes us very strong and we were able to convert this into quality, of course.

We signed new players that raised the quality of the squad. You can bring on substitutes from the bench that can decide a match. You could see that recently during the Champions League semi-final. All of us have the attitude to say that we really want to win every trophy there is. We can only accomplish that together as a team, and it's something I appreciate very much.

On Ewa Pajor

I remember when she joined us, she was so young. She didn't speak German or English. We were glad that we had a Polish physiotherapist who could translate. For Ewa, it was of course very important to have somebody she could rely on straight away.

Apart from that, she's a very calm and shy person. She doesn't talk very much. She is more of an observer. I'd say she even enjoys following the things happening in and around the team.

She's extremely fast, that's maybe her biggest strength. And she's very efficient and calm in front of goal. Over the years, she's scored so many important goals for us. In the Champions League this season, she's the top scorer too, as far as I know. That is what distinguishes her. She's a fighter, she never gives up, she runs from right to left and from front to back.

When she really wants to win, and when she really wants to achieve something, her playing style almost gets a bit wild, actually. Sometimes, less is more, because that way she saves her energy for the decisive moments in front of goal.

On her experiences of finals, positive and negative

The positive ending always stays in your mind when you win it, of course. You're holding the trophy in your hands, you're celebrating, you can barely believe that you've won the Champions League. [You experience] feelings that build up in you which are just beautiful and which you'd like to experience again every year.

I also learned an awful lot from the defeats, I have to say. I think we have improved year by year. Personally, I can remember one of the finals particularly well [2018], because I got sent off. Of course you don't forget this, but what happened to me in Kyiv then will never happen to me again. I really think the saying that you learn the most from defeats is true, because you see at the end why you failed, what aspects you need to work on for you to carry on progressing as a team.

On how things have changed since Wolfsburg's first triumph a decade ago

It's important to mention that football in general has changed, it has developed a lot. Football is much more tactical and technical now compared to ten years ago. And accordingly, the education of the players has changed, too. The young players that come up to the first team nowadays are more educated than we were back in the day. That, of course, has an influence on the game.

Through the professionalisation here at Wolfsburg and the ambition to always play at the highest level, whether in the Bundesliga, in the DFB Pokal [German Cup] or in the Champions League, many things have changed.

The players have a big added value here at Wolfsburg. The club does a very good job bringing through these kinds of players. Players that either are able to develop very well, or that are already at a level where they are able to make a difference. I think that's something that has changed dramatically over the last few years.

When I look at our team right now and compare it with the last ten years, I think Wolfsburg have never had a squad with such an enormous amount and range of quality as we have today.