Three goals in three minutes: Women confidence booster ahead of league opener

"That was a really good final friendly and in many ways our best game of the preseason. We created a lot of goalscoring opportunities and were pretty efficient, although we did miss a few changes. Overall, we were able to play almost the entire range of attacking moves: The threat down the wings, through the centre, after counter-attacks and from set-pieces," said Pätzold: "Of course, the opposition will be much stronger next weekend. But we are physically well equipped and were able to apply what we’ve worked on in preseason in all phases of the game under competitive conditions. The new players gave us a boost in the last half hour. They all showed we can count on them, regardless of their role and how much playing time they get. That gives us a good feeling for the start of the season."

Estrella Merino Gonzalez and Loreen Bender (both injured), Selina Ostermeier and Amy Wrigge (both muscle injuries), Caroline Kehrer (recovery training after a meniscus tear) and the long-term injured Shen Menglu (cruciate ligament tear) were ruled out as they had been for the the training camp and in the 3-2 defeat against VfL Wolfsburg eight days ago. The two goalkeepers Anne Moll and Louisa Remien were also not in the squad.

dream start for black and reds

The 100 or so spectators had barely taken their seats at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre when it was already 3-0 in favour of the hosts, who got off to an extraordinary dream start. Ruby Grant was denied by Liège goalkeeper Lot Hemminga after a fine move, but the rebound was converted by Kramer to open the scoring (4'). Just one minute later, another move down the left saw two summer signings make it 2-0: Fudalla set up Wamser with a sharp cross from the left and the Germany international effortlessly slotted home from close range - her first goal for the Werkself. But that was not all: Just one minute later, Kristin Kögel put Kramer through but she failed to beat Hemminga. This time, the rebound ended up with Fudalla, who increased the lead to 3-0. Less than three minutes later, Kramer missed the chance for a fourth goal in the first ten minutes.

The Werkself continued to dominate proceedings after that. The visitors, playing in red, rarely found a way out of their own half. The next goal for the home team came from a corner. Fudalla's corner found the head of Turanyi, who gave the keeper no chance (18'). The Belgians created half-chances at best, but the Bayer 04 Women went one better. Fudalla scored the fifth goal from close range, her fifth of the preseason (34'). Three minutes later, a last-minute block by the visitors denied Kramer the next goal. The final strike in a lively first half was scored by Wamser, who netted again with a volley to make it 6-0 (45').

After the restart, Pätzold's team picked up where they had left off. Fudalla was denied her third goal at the last second (48'). Instead, the visitors scored their first goal shortly afterwards. After a counter-attack down the right, Amber Barrett flicked the ball past the helpless Friederike Repohl into the net (51'). After that, Liège were more confident but no further clear-cut chances materialised.

Half an hour before the final whistle, Pätzold made five changes. Melissa Friedrich, Juliette Vidal, Valentina Mädl, Vanessa Haim and Ida Daedelow, who had celebrated her 18th birthday two days earlier, came on. After a brief breather, the Bayer 04 Women shifted up a gear again in the final minutes. Mädl missed her chance to score off the bench from a Wamser cross (81'), and Haim suffered the same fate a few seconds later from close range. Bartz did better shortly afterwards: Vidal intercepted an attempted attack from Liège and found Haim on the left wing, whose pass into the centre found Bartz, who came on in the first half. The attacking player slotted home to make it 7-1 (86') - which was also the final scoreline.

coming up: Bundesliga Record at opener in munich

The seventh friendly marks the end of more than two months of preparation for the Bayer 04 Women. The new Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga season begins in a week's time on Saturday, 6 September (17:45, live on ARD, MagentaSport and DAZN), with the official openeing match away to champions of Germany Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena. Over 45,000 tickets have already been sold - a Bundesliga record.

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Repohl - Wamser, Wenger, Turanyi (Friedrich 63’), Mickenhagen (Vidal 63’) - Zdebel (Daedelow 63’), Piljic (Grant 46’) - Grant (Bartz 24’), Kögel - Kramer (Mädl 63’), Fudalla (Haim 63’)

Starting XI Standard Liège: Hemmiga - Binate, Traore, Blave, Barett, O'riordan, Piqué, Colvill, Vanbellingen, Tchidjo Bomie, Godfroid

Goals: 1-0 Kramer (4’), 2-0 Wamser (5’), 3-0 Fudalla (6’), 4-0 Turanyi (18’), 5-0 Fudalla (34’), 6-0 Wamser (45’), 6-1 Barrett (51’), 7-1 Bartz (86’)

Referee: Antonia Bexen (Cologne)

Attendance: 100 at Kurtekotten Performance Centre