Bayer 04 Women want to be “dominant” in home opener against promoted Union Berlin

“Despite losing, we were a worthy opponent for the majority of the game, made life very tough for Bayern and didn’t look overawed by the big crowd. For large parts of the game we did exactly what we wanted to do,” said Roberto Pätzold looking back on the 2-0 loss to champions Bayern Munich in front of over 57,000 spectators. “We can be proud of how evenly we contested the match. We were ultimately undone by not taking our chances and sort of running out of steam towards the end.”

“Not a normal promoted team”

The 46-year-old coach added that he has a clear expectation of his team when it comes to facing ambitious promoted side Union: “We want to be dominant in our first outing at home, and obviously not end up empty-handed this time. If we manage to play the way we did against Bayern for 90 minutes, any team will struggle against us.”

However, Bayer 04’s opponents to close out Matchday 2 are “not a normal promoted team”. Union have enjoyed a rapid rise, with back-to-back promotions and winning the Bundesliga 2 title last season. “They’ve strengthened with a lot of quality from the Bundesliga. We expect them to come here full of confidence,” Pätzold explained of the Berliners, who invested heavily in their squad with the signings like Sophie Weidauer from Werder Bremen and Eintracht Frankfurt duo Tanja Pawollek and Anna Aehling. Union drew their Bundesliga debut 1-1 against Nürnberg in front of a crowd of 11,000 at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei.

Union are one of three promoted clubs this season, joining Hamburg and the aforementioned Nürnberg in the newly expanded 14-team Bundesliga. All three come with huge support and play their home games in their main bigger stadium, with Pätzold now expecting a “more evenly balanced league”. He’s also pleased that Berlin now has a top-flight team, given “the capital has long been missing from the women’s football map in Germany”.

Bender’s return up in the air

Leverkusen remain without Selina Ostermeier, Amy Wrigge (both muscular), Caroline Kehrer (fitness training) and long-term absentee Shen Menglu (cruciate ligament). Whether Loreen Bender will return after missing the Bayern game is up in the air.