Clear superiority in Hamburg: Bayer 04 Women win away

Following on from the 1-0 home win against FC Carl Zeiss Jena, Pätzold made two changes to his starting XI. Estrella Merino Gonzalez and Loreen Bender replaced Mickenhagen and Valentina Mädl. After a leisurely opening phase, Bender, returning from a one-match suspension, had the first effort on goal. From a Fudalla  corner, she was unmarked and put in a header on goal, but the HSV keeper Lea Paulick made the save (9').

Fudalla's 14th goal of the season

A minute later, Fudalla went one better. A one-two with Piljic saw the 24-year-old outwit the Hamburg defence and she fired the ball under the bar from eleven metres out. Her 14th goal of the season makes her the top goalscorer again alongside Pernille Harder (Bayern Munich). Ten minutes later, her strike partner Cornelia Kramer missed a great chance to score her first goal of the season. Put through by Bender, the unmarked Denmark international shot just over the Paulick’s goal. Immediately after that, Bender herself also missed the chance to make it 2-0. From a similar position to Kremer, put through by skipper Sofie Zdebel, she put the ball over the bar on the left. The action came thick and fast: This time Ruby Grant was almost through to the baseline and she found Kramer to the left of the penalty spot. She shot straight away and hit the post (26'). Bender's shot from an acute angle also went just wide of the target (28’). Two minutes later, Merino Gonzalez crossed from the right and Kramer headed the ball over the bar from close range.

It was only due to the visitors' lack of clinical finishing that the outcome of the one-sided match was still open at this point. HSV barely got out of their own half, with Pätzold's team dominating the game. After a frenetic first half-hour, the Hanseatic team stabilised somewhat, but Leverkusen still had a clear advantage on the pitch with almost 70 per cent possession. The equaliser for HSV came more or less out of the blue with their first attacking move - and the Werkself were punished for the many missed chances. Camilla Linberg broke through on the left in a foot race with Claudia Wenger, broke into the penalty area and gave keeper Rafaela Borggräfe no chance with her right-footed shot to the bottom corner (41'). Seconds before the break, Piljic forced Paulick into a good save with a powerful shot from distance. In the second minute of added time, Zdebel's overhead kick from a corner went over the bar. The Hamburg side went into half-time with the score level at 1-1, which was extremely fortunate from an HSV perspective.

Piljic keeps calm - Kramer misses chance to seal win

Leverkusen started the second half in the sunny Volkspark Stadium with a similar attacking dynamic to the first half and immediately pressed for the long overdue second goal. And it came after just under ten minutes of play: Bender took the ball on the halfway line, picked up pace and found Piljic, who was running with her, with a cross-field pass over 30 metres. The German-Croatian kept calm and slotted the ball through Paulick's legs to regain the lead (54'). The 22-year-old had already scored against Jena. Shortly after that, Grant missed the next opportunity with a diving header (58'). Pätzold then made two changes: Mickenhagen and Kristin Kögel replaced Merino Gonzalez and Grant (63'). His team continued to set the tone and missed the next clear-cut chance through Kramer. A low cross from Carlotta Wamser from the right found the Dane but she was unable to connect properly and the chance was missed (69').

As HSV now had to take risks, this created space for the Werkself. During one of the counter-attacks, Bender again found Kramer, whose powerful shot was saved by Paulick (76'). Piljic was then involved in her third goal in the next move: her diagonal ball found Mickenhagen running in on the left and she slotted the ball past the HSV keeper to make it 3-1 (78'). The Leverkusen coach brought on Juliette Vidal (for Piljic) and Vanessa Haim (for Bender) for the final minutes to secure the well-earned away win. Until the final whistle, the Werkself were closer to a fourth goal than Hamburg were to a second, but the final score was 3-1 to Bayer 04.

next up: Long break then at home to SC Freiburg

The next Bundesliga fixture for the Werkself is almost a month away. The home match against SC Freiburg on matchday 23 will be played on or around 26 April, the exact date has yet to be set. While some of the national team players are away on international duty in the meantime, Pätzold's team will play a friendly against Dutch top-flight side AZ Alkmaar at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre on Friday, 17 April (14:00 CEST).

Match stats:

Hamburger SV: Paulick - Doucoure, Stoldt, Schulz (Mirzaliyeva 18’), J. Wrede (Eggert 79’) - Machtens, Bartz (Mikolajova 63’) - Büchele (Wucher 46’), Linberg, L. Wrede (Krüger 63’) - Brunnthaler

Bayer 04: Borggräfe - Merino Gonzalez (Mickenhagen 63’), Wenger, Ostermeier, Wamser - Piljic (Vidal 83’), Zdebel - Bender (Haim 83’), Grant (Kögel 63’) - Fudalla (Mädl 90+1’), Kramer

Goals: 0-1 Fudalla (10'), 1-1 Linberg (41'), 1-2 Piljic (54'), 1-3 Mickenhagen (77')

Yellow cards: Wucher - Bender, Piljic, Wamser

Referee: Dr Riem Hussein (Bad Harzburg)

Attendance: 4,493 at the Volksparkstadion