MADRID -- Former winners VfL Wolfsburg had the perfect opportunity to break into the top four of the UEFA Women's Champions League table and earn automatic qualification to the knockouts. Instead, they gifted that chance to nine-player Real Madrid , who claimed a 2-0 victory and have positioned themselves on the cusp of avoiding the knockouts.

It was always going to be a tight contest, with both sides needing a win in the penultimate game of the league phase. Each had already dropped points -- Wolfsburg to Lyon and Real Madrid to Arsenal and Paris FC -- so everything was still to play for.

Despite finishing the match with nine players, Real Madrid were dominant and ultimately frustrated a Wolfsburg side desperate to reclaim its former continental stature. Everything was positio

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