Derby win on Carnival Friday: Women impress against FC Köln

The Werkself started the derby with three changes to their starting line-up. Compared with the starting XI for the 1-0 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt, Friederike Repohl (torn ligament), Claudia Wenger (knock) and Juliette Vidal (bench), were replaced by goalkeeper Rafaela Borggräfe (first start), Lilla Turanyi and Zdebel.

Fudalla exploits mistake by Fuchs

The Werkself took control of the game right from the start and had the first shot on goal early on: Kristin Kögel on the left on the edge of the penalty area was picked out by Fudalla but her effort went wide to the right of the goal (3'). Leverkusen barely allowed the visitors to cross the halfway line in the early stages. The second chance also fell to the Black and Reds: Fudalla tried from distance, but goalkeeper Irina Fuchs made the save (14’). Three minutes later, the current top scorer in the Bundesliga capitalised on a Fuchs mistake. The keeper unintentionally gave the ball away to the striker. Fudalla evaded FC Köln defenders with a dummy before slotting the ball into the right corner of the net for her twelfth goal of the season (17').

Just one minute later, there was almost a second goal. Set up by Fudalla, Zdebel curled the ball just over the bar at full stretch. FC Köln were now getting into the game, but the hosts remained the more dangerous team. After a short lull for both teams, Zdebel finally hit a wonderful strike. An inadequate clearance by the team from Cologne saw the midfielder take a shot from 18 metres out and she fired the ball into the right-hand corner - her first goal of the season (37'). Bayer 04 took a two-goal lead into half-time.

Kramer Comeback 

Katharina Piljic, who fell on her shoulder after a tackle shortly before the break, did not come back on for the second half. Vidal replaced her. The visitors were a little more courageous after the break, but were unable to find the back of the Leverkusen net. With half an hour to play, Cornelia Kramer made her first appearance of 2026 after overcoming muscular problems, and Ruby Grant also came off the bench. The two goalscorers Fudalla and Zdebel made way. Two minutes after her substitution, Kramer almost had her first assist: Kögel's shot was too central (64'). Shortly afterwards, Pätzold also brought on Melissa Friedrich (for Loreen Bender) to strengthen the defence.

There were still no chances for further goals from either side at the start of the final quarter of an hour. Pätzold made one last change, with Valentina Mädl replacing Caroline Kehrer (78'). The Werkself were now increasingly on the lookout for counter-attacks, one of which Carlotta Wamser capitalised on with a powerful shot from distance that flew just over the target. FC Köln striker Sandra Maria Jessen missed the best opportunity to score with a low shot (81'). At the other end, a Mädl header was saved (83'). Kramer went close to scoring her first goal of the season in another counter-attack, but FC Köln substitute Pauline Bremer did score at the other end to make it 2-1 (88'). The Werkself had to weather the final efforts of the opponents from Cologne but were able to secure a deserved 2-1 derby victory at full time.

next up: Home game against Hoffenheim ahead of international break

The next home game is on Sunday, 22 February. The Werkself welcome TSG Hoffenheim to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium with the kick-off at 14:00 CET. Tickets for this match are available in advance HERE. Pätzold will then give his team a week off from training before the next international break. On Sunday, 15 March (18:30 CET), Leverkusen round off matchday 20 with an away game at VfL Wolfsburg.

Macth stats:

Bayer 04: Borggräfe - Merino Gonzalez, Ostermeier, Turanyi, Wamser - Piljic (Vidal 46’), Zdebel (Grant 62’) - Bender (Friedrich 72’), Kögel - Kehrer (Mädl 78’), Fudalla (Kramer 62’)

FC Köln: Fuchs - Matysik (Wiankowska 74’), Degen, Agrez, Gerhardt - Vogt (Stolze 63’) - Zawistowska, Achcinska (Bremer 46’), Feiersinger, Hasenauer (Bohnen 63’) - Jessen

Goals: 1-0 Fudalla (17'), 2-0 Zdebel (37'), 2-1 Bremer (88')

Yellow cards: Wamser - Vogt, Degen

Referee: Selina Menzel (Stutensee)

Attendance: 1,068 at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium