Debuts for Mädl and Wamser: Women win friendly against Westerlo

“It was a very successful friendly against opponents who dropped very deep, they really closed down the space and put in a lot of legwork. We often got in behind the defence and created some chances to win by an even higher margin,” said Pätzold: “Valentina scored a goal straightaway, Carlotta contributed a lot of energy and indicated what we all can look forward to. We had a few coordination problems in defence when we attacked, but we still have a few weeks. The Euro participants are back and a few players are back from rehab, which increases the competition and thus the quality of play.”

A total of seven players from the pro squad missed the friendly. New signing Mädl made her debut in attack and was a starter. The Austrian had not played during her first few weeks at Bayer 04 because of Achilles tendon problems.

Deserved lead

Mädl did not even need ten minutes to score her maiden goal for her new club. Her header hit the bar, but the 19-year-old was on hand to mop up the rebound. The momentum ebbed away now and Werkself keeper Anne Moll came out of her goal to clear the danger after a long ball.

Apart from that, it was all Bayer 04, who were rewarded for their dominance when Bender intercepted a pass and proved a cool customer against the KVC keeper (26’). Bender’s effort from distance then went inches wide (42’) and Bayer 04 were two up at the break.

As in the last few friendlies, Pätzold shuffled his deck at half-time. Westerlo pressed for a reply now and got close three minutes after the restart. Fudalla went one better at the other end, scoring a wonder goal. Her curler from the edge of the box found the net via the underside of the crossbar (54’). The new signing has now scored in three consecutive friendlies.

The Werkself were still closer to a fourth than KVC to a consolation goal. A Vanessa Haim effort landed on the roof of the net before new signing Wamser made her debut when she came on for Mickenhagen. At the Women’s EURO in Switzerland, the 21-year-old reached the semi-finals with Germany and only resumed training with her new club at the start of this week. Louisa Remien, who had replaced Moll between the sticks, prevented a consolation goal (79’) and Leverkusen went on to seal a deserved 3-0 victory.

friendlies and training camp

The Red and Blacks will contest three more friendlies before the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga restarts on Saturday, 6 September at 17:45 CEST, when Bayer 04 travel to face FC Bayern at the Allianz Arena in the league’s official opening match.

Click HERE for the summer schedule!

Match stats

Bayer 04, 1st half: Moll - Lindner, Wenger, Ostermeier (35. Turanyi), Mickenhagen - Piljic, Daedelow - Bender, Kögel - Fudalla, Mädl (35. Bartz)

Bayer 04, 2nd half: Remien - Schwartze, Friedrich, Turanyi, Mickenhagen (61. Wamser) - Zdebel, Grant - Bartz, Kögel (61. Coskun) - Fudalla (61. Haim), Kramer

KVC Westerlo starting XI: Duyzer - Wattilete, Janssens, Huysmans, Masnaoui, Prez, Nierynck, De Bondt, Van Belle, Tom, Van Walsem

Goals: 1-0 Mädl (9.), 2-0 Bender (26.), 3-0 Fudalla (54.)

Referee: Lisa Reinecke (Erfthöhen)

Attendance: 180 at Kurtekotten performance centre