Following the devastating news of vice captain Sarah Zadrazil’s ACL tear, Bayern Munich could have done without a further two serious injuries following the cup game win against Dortmund. Both Vanessa Gilles and Jovana Damnjanović are set for ‘several weeks’ on the treatment table.
Werder Bremen had a mixed start to the campaign following the highs of last season’s cup final appearance, where they lost to the Munich Frauen in Köln. With two wins, a draw and a loss so far, they looked set to be capable
of repeating last season’s 7th placed finish in the league.
Head Coach José Barcala made four changes to the Starting XI from the win against Dortmund; Tuva Hansen and Franziska Kett came in for Vanessa Gilles and Giulia Gwinn in defence, and Momoko Tanikawa and Lea Schüller returned to the attacking line up in place of Natalia Padilla-Bidas and Alara Şehitler.
The Bayern XI was as follows:
Ena Mahmutovic (GK) – Franziska Kett, Tuva Hansen, Magdalena Eriksson, Carolin Simon – Georgia Stanway, Arianna Caruso – Klara Bühl, Momoko Tanikawa, Pernille Harder, Lea Schüller
The Match
Bayern started the match really quickly, with a couple of early chances. The most notable one came following a drive from Tanikawa toward the edge of the box, but her eventual shot was comfortably saved by El Sharif in goal.
Tanikawa was on the end of another Bayern attack shortly after, where a low-driven cross from Bühl was poked by the Japanese international, but the shot bounced off the crossbar and behind for a goal kick.
For all of Bayern’s dominance on the ball, Werder were able to create chances. The first coming from an uncharacteristic Mahmutovic mistake, after an under-hit pass was intercepted by Ricarda Walking, but her first time shot was comfortably gathered by the young keeper. A few minutes later, a long ball forward behind Bayern’s back line was latched onto by Maja Sternad, but her shot was blocked by Hansen on her recovering run.
In the 30th minute, Bayern were really able to mount the pressure on the Bremen defence, primarily following an individual dribble from Harder towards the centre of the pitch. She laid it off for Bühl who was cutting inside, and she produced a powerful curling effort to the right-side of the goal, but El Sharif was able to impressively push it wide. However, from the Simon corner that was headed clear, it landed at the feet of Stanway. She attempted to volley it but completely mishit it, meaning it looped into the feet of Caruso, and she could powerfully strike it into the roof of the net from close range, 1-0!
Werder reacted poorly and that meant that Bayern could quickly double their advantage. Bremen were able to head clear from a deep cross initially but once again, only as far as Stanway. She cleverly picked out Tanikawa on the edge of the box, who played a quick 1-2 with Schüller leaving former Bayern defender Michelle Ulbrich in the dust, and the Japanese international was able to place it past El Sharif in goal, 2-0!
It could have gone from bad to worse from Werder Bremen in the 40th minute, as El Sharif was called upon once again. Bühl hit a long ball to the back post toward Harder, who headed it back across goal into the path on Tanikawa, but her point-blank header collided with a scrambling El Sharif and was cleared.
The hope was that in the second half, Bayern would go on to dominate once again, allowing for the potential substitutions of key players ahead of the double header next week against Barcelona and Wolfsburg, but Bremen started the better of the two teams. Whilst not creating a flurry of clear chances, they were applying a lot of pressure and Bayern had to respond accordingly if they wanted to keep yet another clean sheet.
Bayern were able to limit Bremen to half chances at best, and in the 60th minute, they almost extended their lead! Following a Simon corner, Eriksson rose highest but could only redirect the ball towards Harder in space, but her half-volley was always rising and flew over the bar.
Barcala saw this as the time to make a triple change replacing both Centre Backs, Eriksson and Hansen, as well as Tanikawa. On came Glódis Perla Viggósdóttir, Stine Ballisager and Linda Dallmann respectively.
The changes would pay off in the 64th minute, where Bühl was played in down the left side and crossed it into Schüller, who laid it off for Dallmann to finish at the near post, 3-0!
In the 66th minute, Simon was replaced by Giulia Gwinn, who was making her 150th Frauen Bundesliga appearance. As a result, Kett moved to the left side of defence.
Werder were determined to make Bayern work for their clean-sheet, and almost wiped it out in the 71st minute. A ball of real quality from Chiara D’Angelo on the left into the box where Emőke Pápai was making a darting run into hit, but her volley was comfortably over the bar. Bayern’s fifth and final change came moments later, where Harder was replaced by Alara Şehitler.
Bayern would go on to add the cherry on top of the cake in the 78th minute, following some good combination play between Gwinn and Caruso, as well as some individual brilliance from the latter who left her marker for dead and cleverly picked out Schüller for the tap-in, 4-0!
In the final minute of added time, Bühl almost made it 5, but El Sharif made a strong save to prevent any further damage.
Conclusions
Barcala and his team will be happy with the result first and foremost, and to keep the clean-sheet run going. The Munich Frauen have now kept a run of six games without conceding, since the DFB-Supercup back in August. It would be extremely impressive if that record continues past next week, given the away trips to Barcelona on Tuesday and to Wolfsburg on Saturday.
Bayern now sit joint top of the table, alongside Wolfsburg, who are coming off an 8-0 thrashing against SGS Essen. By the time the international break rolls around, Bayern could be in a completely different position and mood to today, especially given the two UWCL ties against Barcelona and Juventus.
As mentioned, Bayern’s next game is away to Barcelona in the UWCL league phase on Tuesday.
