The result was settled by an early goal from Germany international Lena Lotzen. It was one of the few points in the game where the holders posed problems for the Bayer 04 Women at the Grünwalder Straße Stadium. Bayern, still on course for a semi-final spot in the Champions League, had more of the possession and looked to be on top but were unable to press home that advantage by posing additional threats to the Bayer 04 goal with Anna Klink on form between the posts. The Werkself goalkeeper had to make two last-ditch clearances against Lotzen on both occasions.
At the other end, Leverkusen played as planned on the break but were unable to find the back of the net. The best opportunity came when the captain Ramona Petzelberger set up Turid Knaak but she put her shot just over the Munich target. Even though his team left empty-handed against the clear favourites the coach was able to gain some positives from his players' performance. "The girls were really great. They all fought for each other and we played as a solid unit. We definitely have to take that into the next games," said Malte Dresen who remained hopeful of gaining a result right up to the closing minutes after Bayern were reduced to ten players following the dismissal of Leonie Maier on 88 minutes and they had to battle to keep out Bayer 04.
Duisburg on Sunday
The situation in the table has not changed for Leverkusen as both Duisburg and Jena lost at the weekend. The next match will clearly have a significant influence on the future situation in Bayer 04's battle to avoid relegation: MSV Duisburg, with a four-point lead, are the visitors on Sunday (kick-off 14.00 CET at Kurtekotten) and the Werkself women definitely need to win that game. That should be possible given the performance against Bayern.
Match stats:
FC Bayern Munich: Zinsberger – Maier, Abbé, Wenninger, Behringer (Romert 60’), Bürki, Lotzen, Evans, Schnaderbeck, Miedema (Brecht 74’), Slipcevic (Däbritz 83’)
Bayer 04: Klink – Kempe, Barth, Krahn, Wich, Petzelberger, R. Knaak, Rinast, Csiszar (Dunst 70’), Schwab (Widak 80’), T. Knaak
Goals: 1-0 Lotzen (10’)
Referee: Christine Weigelt (Leipzig)
Booked: Miedema
Sent off: Maier (88’)
Attendance: 382
Decision made: Germany will submit a bid to the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to host the 2036, 2040 or 2044 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Munich. The representatives of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) voted for Munich over Cologne-Rhine-Ruhr at their extraordinary meeting in Baden-Baden on Saturday 26 September. Berlin had already withdrawn from the vote a few days earlier.
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Former Werkself star Michael Ballack, who won the German Footballer of the Year award in 2002 while playing in Leverkusen, celebrates his 50th birthday on Saturday. Bayer 04 sends him its best wishes!
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A challenging start to what will hopefully be a long journey: The Bayer 04 women’s team kick off their new DFB Pokal campaign on Sunday (14:00 CEST) against second-division leaders FC Viktoria Berlin. Coach Roberto Pätzold expects stiff resistance in the capital – and is counting on his team’s strong away form in the Bundesliga so far this term.
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Attention Werkself fans: In addition to tickets for the floodlit home match against Werder Bremen, tickets are now also available for the Bayer 04 women’s team’s two subsequent fixtures against Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburger SV at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. Both matches in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga will take place at family-friendly kick-off times on Saturday afternoons. Here is the latest information on matchday ticket sales.
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