Brave performance goes unrewarded: Women lose to Bayern Munich in final game of the year

Pätzold made two changes to his starting XI after the 1-0 defeat at Werder Bremen at the end of the Rückrunde. Centre-back Selina Ostermeier and the injured top scorer Vanessa Fudalla (muscular problems) made way for Claudia Wenger and, for the first time since the reverse fixture on matchday one, Cornelia Kramer. Carlotta Wamser was also back in the squad after almost two months out with a knee injury.

braVE Werkself START - Bayern SCORE

Leverkusen made a lively start against the league leaders and created the first chance. Loreen Bender found Kramer in the centre with a low cross from the right, but she was unable to beat FCB goalkeeper Ena Mahmutovic from close range (2'). The subsequent corner from Kristin Kögel found Bender whose shot from a very tight angle did not pose a real goal threat. After ten minutes, Bender again missed just to the left of the goal from around 18 metres out. However, FC Bayern took the lead shortly after that with their first real chance: Jovana Damnjanovic skilfully shielded a pass from Pernille Harder on the edge of the penalty area and laid it off to Franziska Kett. The Germany international curled the ball past Repohl into the net (16').

The lead gave Bayern Munich confidence in their build-up play, with the favourites now playing more and more in their opponents' half. After a misunderstanding between Lilla Turanyi and goalkeeper Friederike Repohl, the Hungarian centre-back brought down Harder. Repohl guessed right for the penalty kick, with the fouled player taking it herself, to keep her team in the game (26'). The save gave the Werkself fresh impetus. Four minutes later, Mahmutovic was on hand to save a Kögel free-kick as the the hosts became more courageous again at this stage. However, there were no clear goalscoring opportunities for either side before the break, meaning that Bayer 04 went into the half-time break 1-0 down.

Leverkusen pressure after the restart

The second half began with a shot from Arianna Caruso that went just wide to the left (47'). Then came the Werkself's strongest attacking phase of the game. Time and again, Pätzold's team tried to break down the wings and pin Bayern back in front of their penalty area, but the final ball went astray on several occasions. After an hour, the time had come and Wamser made her long-awaited comeback. The Germany international came on for Kögel and Ostermeier replaced Wenger in the same position. At the other end, Harder just failed to connect with a dangerous pass from Damnjanovic (65'). On the counter-attack, Kramer's shot in the penalty area went over Mahmutovic's net. Bayern Munich regained more control of the game. Damnjanovic's next shot was turned away for a corner by Kramer (69').

At the start of the final quarter of an hour, a challenge between Turanyi and Harder led to another penalty - although the slight contact between the centre-back and the FC Bayern Dane took place outside the penalty area. Pätzold made another double substitution before the penalty was taken: Valentina Mädl (for Caroline Kehrer) and Ruby Grant came on for Katharina Piljic, who suffered a nose bleed (75'). Momoko Tanikawa stepped up to take the spot-kick and converted safely to make it 2-0 for FC Bayern. Julia Mickenhagen replaced Kramer, who had returned to the starting eleven, for the final ten minutes. Five minutes before the final whistle, referee Miriam Schwermer pointed to the spot for a third time after Mickenhagen blocked a cross with her hand. This time, Georgia Stanway converted for the final score of 3-0 (86').

coming up: Winter break to 4 January

The Werkself now go into a 13-day winter break. The first training session of the new year is on Sunday, 4 January, from 15:30 CET at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre. The Leverkusen team then have a training camp in Faro, Portugal, from 10 to 17 January. The first match of the new year is a week later on Friday, 23 January. The Bayer 04 Women start matchday 15 away to promoted Union Berlin with the kick-off at 18:30 CET.

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Repohl - Merino Gonzalez, Wenger (Ostermeier 60’), Turanyi, Vidal - Zdebel, Piljic (Grant 75’) - Bender, Kögel (Wamser 60’) - Kehrer (Mädl 75’), Kramer (Mickenhagen 80’)

Bayern Munich: Mahmutovic - Kett, Ballisager, Eriksson (Gilles 79’), Simon (Naschenweng 64’) - Caruso (Dunst 64’), Stanway - Dallmann, Tanikawa, Harder (Padilla-Bidas 88’) - Damnjanovic (Alara 79’)

Goals: 0-1 Kett (16'), 0-2 Tanikawa (75', pen.), 0-3 Stanway (86', pen.)

Notable incident: Repohl saves Harder penalty (25')

Yellow cards: Turanyi, Pätzold, Wamser - Simon

Referee: Miriam Schwermer (Rieder)

Attendance: 3,011 at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium (sold out)