At the final whistle, Wolfsburg’s players dashed down the stand, through the gate and on to the pitch where they will play Sunday’s Champions League final. As they charged across the grass, bright green figures cheering, Barcelona’s players stood in disbelief. A moment before, two minutes into added time, the ball had dropped for the substitute Aitana Bonmati well inside the Wolfsburg area but her shot slipped wide, taking hope with it. And that, they might have reflected, was the story of their night. While Barcelona missed more and more chances as the game went on, Wolfsburg took one that ended up being enough. Fridolina Rolfö got it early in the second half, leaving her team to spend the rest of the night resisting. The clock ran down, the shot-count ran up, and Barcelona kept coming, but there was no way through. What had started as an open, enjoyable game with opportunities at both ends ended up becoming a case of the German side hanging on, defending resolutely. This is a team who know how to reach the final, and they found their way there again – for a fifth time. It was also a clash of styles, just as the impressive Barcelona winger Caroline Graham Hansen had suggested. From the start, they kept the ball, moving it neatly, seeking to prise the door open; Wolfsburg were more likely to burst through it. Ultimately, they are the ones who crossed the threshold. Lluis Cortés’s side started well, Asisat Oshoala hitting the side-netting early as they settled into a passing rhythm, the ball moved fast. Friederike Abt had to push over the bar inside quarter of an hour and might have faced a penalty too, a handball by Kathrin Hendrich unseen by a referee without a video assistant referee. Next Oshoala dashed into the area and toe-poked wide. The pass warranted a better finish – and that would prove a recurring theme. Cortés, though, had warned his players of the danger Wolfsburg posed on the break – a “vertical” side dangerous in transitions, he said – and it was not long before they saw that for themselves, opportunities arriving. Rolfö shot over; a sharp turn from Ewa Pajor saw Svenja Huth’s effort go the same way; and Rolfö crossed for Huth to head. Moments before, at the other end, Graham Hansen had turned inside and bent her shot just past the near post. As the second half opened Sandra Paños had to prevent Mapi León’s header from becoming an own goal and from the corner Alexandra Popp’s header looped on to the top of the net. Barcelona immediately passed up their best chance yet, quite literally. A lovely ball from Jenni Hermoso released Graham Hansen but rather than shooting she tried to pull it back to Oshoala. The second half was only five minutes in and it wasn’t long before Hermoso was back inside the Wolfsburg area. That was when Wolfsburg struck. This time, the buildup was slower, the ball worked up the pitch. Andrea Pereira could only deflect a low cross into the air and Pajor leapt. The overhead kick did not come off but it did fall to Rolfö to nudge home. That it was the only goal would eventually prove a surprise. Barcelona kept coming, increasingly insistent to the point of becoming understandably frantic, throwing everything at this and racking up 16 shots but no goals. Abt tipped Oshoala’s header over from close range, Hamraoui’s effort squeezed wide, Mapi León’s was blocked, and then Hermoso’s superb footwork and assist found Mariona Caldentey. From five yards, she put it over. Next, Torrejón bombed up and pulled it back for Hermoso who, close in but off balance, sliced wide. It just kept happening, Hermoso somehow unable to meet a low cross at the far post and Aitana Bonmati putting over until that last opportunity slipped away. They had kept on running. The problem was that time did too – until eventually it was gone and Wolfsburg’s substitutes, finalists now, started streaming down the stairs.