Women beat Anderlecht in the first friendly of the year

"The win was very good for morale but the result was not the most important thing today," said de Pauw: "For us it was about getting back into a rhythm and showing passion and energy on the pitch. That worked well." The coach saw two different halves from his team. "We were somewhat impatient in the first but we had more time on the ball in the second. Overall we created a number of chances but there were a couple of mistakes in our passing."

The Dutchman fielded the two different line-ups in the two halves in the first friendly of the year. Only goalkeeper Charlotte Voll played the full 90 minutes. Friederike Repohl (illness), Loreen Bender (thigh) and Janou Levels (groin) were sidelined with Clara Fröhlich, Eva van Deursen and Lara Marti also not travelling to Belgium.

Anderlecht score from free kick

The team third in the Belgian Super League were fast out of the blocks and they kept the Werkself defence busy in the opening stages. The Anderlecht central defender Juliette Vidal (6') scored an early opener with a free kick from the edge of the box deflected into the net. Leverkusen, playing in a light grey kit, gradually gained more control.

However, the opposition goal was really threatened. A free kick taken by captain Elisa Senß from 25 metres out flew over the top of the goal (18'). Five minutes later, another Senß free kick almost slipped through the hands of the opposition keeper Milla Majasaari. The Bayer 04 Women then secured a deserved equaliser with the next action: Estrella Merino Gonzalez put the ball through to Siems who slotted it into the corner of the net (24'). Two minutes later a long cross hit the bar of Voll's goal. The score at half-time was 1-1 despite a number of good chances.

The first big chance in the second half fell to the Bayer 04 Women. Cecilie Johansen raced half the length of the pitch and found Wieder in the middle but her close-range effort was denied by a brilliant save from Majasaari (48'). A long-range shot from the striker just failed to find the back of the net a minute later. But the lead soon came: Vilhjálmsdóttir hit a free kick just wide of the upright and then the forward scored with an impressive curler a minute later with an assist from Kristin Kögel (57').

Anderlecht did not let their heads drop despite the Leverkusen pressure. Lore Jacobs netted a fast equaliser from inside the penalty area (62'). The game settled down after that with few chances at either end up to the final few minutes. Wieder scored the winner late on with a great individual effort in the penalty area.

next friendly against Den Haag

This week brings the second regular week of training of the year. The Leverkusen Women will then play the Dutch top-flight side Ado Den Haag at Kurtekotten on Sunday (13.00 CET). The Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga resumes two weeks later: On matchday 11, the last fixture in the Hinrunde, the Black and Reds are away to Werder Bremen on Friday (18.30 CET, live on MagentaSport and DAZN).

Match stats:

RSC Anderlecht: Majasaari - Deloose, Vanwynsberghe, Vidal, Wajnblum - de Caigny - Vatafu, Matavkova - Buabadi, Delabre, Wijnants

Bayer 04, first half: Voll - Cava Marin, Bragstad, Ostermeier, Siems - Jorde, Senß - Skinnes Hansen, Bartz, Merino Gonzalez - Karczewska

Bayer 04, second half: Voll - Matysik (Boboy 75’), Friedrich, Turányi, Mickenhagen - Zdebel, Kögel - Johansen, Vilhjálmsdóttir, Eickmann - Wieder

Goals: 1-0 Vidal (6’), 1-1 Siems (24’), 1-2 Vilhjálmsdóttir (57’), 2-2 Jacobs (62’), 2-3 Wieder (89’)