Bayern Munich turned in an impressive 3-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Women’s Champions League on Thursday, continuing a rich vein of form as we roll into the busy period just before the holidays.
Here’s how it happened.
Don’t call it a comeback
Seriously, don’t. While Bayern had to score three goals on the spin once again, this was nothing like the Arsenal match. The Gunners were threatening to open up a whole can of whoop on the Bavarians before a sea change of fortunes at halftime, and Bayern pushed to the last to secure their win.
This time, PSG hit Bayern against the run of play early — and continued to provide some threat throughout. But Bayern had the upper hand for most of the match, never truly letting go of the momentum. Linda Dallmann’s immediate equalizer set the tone and the second seemed only a matter of time.
The second half saw the life fade out of the match. Bayern was not investing everything to go for a third but sat back and defended the PSG barrage just about well enough, surviving a succession of corners and getting enough bodies back to crowd out intrusions into the final third. And several opportunities for the finisher did arise, with Jovana Damnjanović finally finishing one of them near the end.
Momo and Bühl provide the spark; Kett POTM
Big-game Klara Bühl helped steal the highlights with another assist (plus a hockey assist for Damnjanović’s goal, via Alara), playing hard to the end and supplying no shortage of dangerous crosses. One of those found Momoko Tanikawa, whose clever feint opened up space for herself to laser in the crucial second goal from close range.
Tanikawa, Pernille Harder, Alara, and others also did their part finding passes to send a teammate, mostly Bühl, in behind. The attacking display felt as coherent, if not pinpoint sharp always, as it has been for Bayern this year, and there were big moments for Bayern to widen the lead earlier: Harder hitting the post from a Bühl square ball laid off via Tanikawa, and Dallmann in open position at the far post on a Bühl cross lofted too high come to mind.
However, the Player of the Match honors went to left-back Franziska Kett, who was given all she could handle on that flank, especially by an energetic Merveille Kanjinga after she came on in the second half. Kett just about managed to put them off enough to prevent truly dangerous attacks from happening, finishing the game with nine ground duels won.
PSG is not this bad
0-0-4 is a brutal way to start but surely this Paris Saint-Germain team is not as wretched as the scoreline indicates. Sakina Karchaoui’s early goal was class and PSG’s attack did flow in spells — not enough to wrest control back but enough to remind Bayern that the pressure was always there. PSG ended up with 51% possession and 15 shots (to Bayern’s 16), a handful of could-have-beens to rue, and a lingering mystery to solve as to how all their talent and offensive threat amounted to so little impact on the game.
Fortunately for the Parisians, 12 of the 18 teams in the league phase will advance, and only the first four get automatic qualification to the quarters. The next eight are drawn in a knockout round. And on that note…!
Qualified!
Bonus ‘observation’. The Bavarians are currently fifth in the table behind Barcelona, Lyon, Wolfsburg, and Manchester United, but have no way of finishing in the bottom four.
The next UWCL match will be December 10th at Atlético Madrid.
