After Bayern Munich’s brutal 7-1 Women’s Champions League defeat at the hands of FC Barcelona, Klara Bühl — linked to the Catalans last season before extending in Munich — stepped out to face the press and attempted to explain what had transpired.
Though the Bavarians are having a solid start to the year domestically, they have once again been shone to be a class below on the international stage. While acknowledging that Barça’s quality and approach were far from unexpected, the result surely stings
for Bühl and her Bayern teammates.
“We thought that we could have maybe a bit more of the ball, to have our own actions, to get to the goal, to get some chances,” Bühl said in a post-match interview for CBS W Golazo. “This night, it’s really really tough. They played a great game. They created a lot of chances and we were just a bit passive. Every time we were too late…we were not good enough.
“This is [the] Champions League. That’s the good thing about it, that you have opponents that are the highest level. Of course we want to play these games, but in a different way. That’s why we have to reflect on it, to take the right solutions out of it. Prepare for the next game, and show a different face.”
Bühl herself was at the center of what would be Bayern’s only glimmer of hope for the night — carving herself a nice pocket of space inside the box and slotting home to make it 3-1 at the half-hour mark. It was on the end of an excellent switch of play orchestrated by midfielder Arianna Caruso, whose arcing ball found Franziska Kett on the right wing while Bühl ghosted from left to central and Pernille Harder and Lea Schüller drew the backline’s attention with forward runs.
“Yeah, it was cool,” Bühl said of her moment. “We got a bit of fresh air with the goal, we hoped for maybe a second chance, a second goal before half-time. But of course, it is difficult, in Champions League, against those opponents. This is stuff we know, and if we want to compete with them, we have to step up and this is what we want to do in the next game.”
The second goal never came — only a Barça onslaught. It is only the beginning of the UWCL campaign, though, and there is time for the Bavarians to turn this story around. After an evisceration like that, the club will need to step up in a major way.
