Women lose 2-0 at home to Duisburg in the Bundesliga restart

The outcome of the clash was a bitter blow from a Leverkusen perspective in the battle against relegation. The team coached by Achim Feifel were looking to break away from the club one place below, but instead MSV Duisburg are now a point behind Bayer 04 in ninth place having played one game less.

In spite of the long break, Achim Feifel had to manage without several players for the restart: In addition to long-term injuries Pauline Wimmer, Melissa Friedrich (both torn cruciates) Karoline Heinze (back problems), Nicole Banecki, and Antonia Göransson, Isabel Kerschowski (muscular problems) was also sidelined. The situation was even tighter for MSV as they only had three on the bench – including two reserve keepers.

Set back after three minutes

The Bayer 04 Women did not start well. Duisburg already had three corners after three minutes and were putting the hosts under intense pressure. Then came the sucker punch after three minutes: Nina Lange gave Duisburg an early lead. The Werkself Women looked to get hit back quickly: A free kick from Milena Nikolic from a dangerous position did not bring the equaliser and neither did a corner won by Jessica Wich. The Werkself Women failed to create many chances after that. MSV were very compact in defence and blunted the Black and Red attacks. The Bayer 04 Women did not manage to find any gaps. Set pieces failed to provide to pose a threat; except for a chance from a header by Nikolic, Bayer 04 lacked the clinical factor in front of the opposition net. Henrike Sahlmann was able to keep out a great chance for the visitors on 22 minutes on then edge of the box. Another counter-attack on 38 minutes saw Lange double her tally – no chance for the keeper Anna Klink.

No way through for the Werkself women

Feifel made two changes for the start of the second half: Ivana Rudelic and Gianna Rackow replaced Henrike Sahlmann and Henrietta Csiszár. The Bayer 04 Women increased their efforts on goal after the break but were unable to make the breakthrough. Leverkusen took more risks but had to be ready for the fast counter-attacks from MSV. Rudelic attempted a header but missed the target. And Rackow also failed to find the back of the net from a corner. Feifel tried to change the course of the game on 78 minutes by bringing on Ann-Kathrin Vinken and Barbara Reger in place of Frederike Kempe and Jessica Wich. Uebach put in a burst of speed near the end of the game but was unable to beat Isabel Hochstein. Duisburg, who brought on the two reserve keepers as outfield players in added time, kept pressing forward and Leverkusen had little chance of getting on the front foot.

“Penetration was lacking”

“It was a deserved defeat. Duisburg gave their all with a powerful mentality. In contrast, we lacked penetration today. There was just too little conviction with our attacks,” bemoaned Achim Feifel after the game. He wants to go through the defeat with his players tomorrow and then focus on the next game on Tuesday, 2 June (14.00 CET) in the DFB Cup quarter-final against TSG Hoffenheim. “There will definitely one or two changes after today’s performance,” the head coach announced. “We’ll have to make sure we are more disciplined against Hoffenheim than we were today.”

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Klink – Kempe (Vinken 77’), Barth, Wirtz, Csiszár (Rackow 46’) – Sahlmann (Rudelic 46’), Wich (Reger 77’), Zeller – Jessen, Uebach, Nikolic
MSV Duisburg: Kämper – Angerer, Moore, Hochstein, O’Riordan – Debitzki, Morina, Zielinski – Günster (Mahmutovic 90 + 4’), Lange (Härling 90 +2,), Halverkamps (Maksuti 68’)
Goals: 0-1 Lange (3’), 0-2 Lange (38’)
Booked: – / Günster
Referee: Kathrin Heimann (Gladbeck)