“First of all, I’d like to congratulate Bayern on a deserved title. It was the first game this season where we had no control at all. It’s credit to the opponent that we hardly had a sniff,” said head coach Robert de Pauw. “We remained positive at the break and wanted to keep fighting. We had more possession, we able to create some unrest among the Bayern platers and cause them stress at times. I had hope after the goal that another one would go in, but at the end of the day it’s a deserved Bayern win.” However, the Dutchman stressed: “We can still take a lot of positives from the game. The team fought for each other till the end against a really good team.”
De Pauw made three changes to his team from the 1-0 loss at RB Leipzig a fortnight ago. Karólína Lea Vilhjálmsdóttir, Julie Jorde – making her full debut – and Estrella Merino Gonzalez came in for Sofie Zdebel (tonsillitis), Caroline Siems and Nikola Karczewska (both bench).
The visitors started as expected as they looked to secure the title at the first attempt. Friederike Repohl was called into action for the first time after six minutes as she gathered a Lea Schüller header from a corner. The pressure from Bayern mounted, but most danger came from set pieces. Magdalena Eriksson fired just over after a free-kick.
Bayern soon made their dominance count when Jovana Damnjanovic squared to Georgia Stanway to tap in. Repohl made a top save from close range against Linda Dallmann shortly after but was unable to prevent the Bayern forward doubling their advantage on 27 minutes when she volleyed in a failed clearance from a corner.
The Munich side remained in the ascendancy after that too as Bayer 04 struggled to create much going forward as it remained 2-0 at the break.
De Pauw made a double change at half-time by introducing Karczewska and Paulina Bartz for Merino Gonzalez and Jorde. The pattern of play remained the same, however, as Giulia Gwinn narrowly missed out on a third. The Dutch coach then brought on Synne Skinnes Hansen for Loreen Bender and was quickly rewarded as the Norwegian crossed for Karczewska, who headed the ball over the line just before goalkeeper Mala Grohs could scoop it clear.
Leverkusen were suddenly livelier, but the away defence remained solid. Another striker was sent on in Verena Wieder for Vilhjálmsdóttir just before Skinnes Hansen narrowly missed out on an equaliser from a narrow angle. It meant the score remained at 2-1 and Bayern were able to celebrate their title defence.
Bayer 04’s final away game of the season next Saturday takes them to already relegated Duisburg. Kick-off is at 2pm CEST.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Repohl - Matysik, Bragstad, Turányi, Levels - Senß - Bender (Skinnes Hansen 57'), Vilhjálmsdóttir (Wieder 79'), Jorde (Bartz 46'), Kögel - Merino Gonzalez (Karczewska 46')
Bayern: Grohs - Gwinn, Viggósdóttir, Eriksson, Naschenweng (Hansen 71') - Zadrazil, Stanway - Lohmann (Sembrant 89'), Damnjanović (Bühl 74'), Dallmann - Schüller (Baijings 85')
Goals: 0-1 Stanway (18'), 0-2 Dallmann (27'), 1-2 Karczewska (62')
Yellow cards: Karczewska - Viggósdóttir, Damnjanović
Referee: Anna-Lena Heidenreich
Attendance: 2,817 (sold out) at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion
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