"We deliberately chose opponents who would challenge us intensively," explained Pätzold. "Unfortunately, we made too many mistakes in the build-up and had to repeatedly defend transitions as a result. Frankfurt simply executed them very strongly with a lot of pace and individual class, which is why the four-goal margin is completely fair. But we won't read too much into the result because the main aim was to give players who have had less game time recently practice with a view to the upcoming tasks in the league. We gave it our best shot and unfortunately weren't able to convert some situations into goals in attack. It was a very good physical exercise for many of them."
A week after the 6-0 win over SV Werder Bremen in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga, the coach made five changes to his line-up. Charlotte Voll, captain Melissa Friedrich, Ruby Grant, Synne Skinnes Hansen and Delice Boboy replaced Friederike Repohl, Lilla Turanyi, Shen Menglu, Kristin Kögel and Cornelia Kramer. Menglu and Turanyi were among nine players from the first-team squad who didn't travel to Westerburg, with youngsters Sana Coskun, Angelie Martens and Amelie Sosnik included in the squad instead.
Both teams began committed but without creating any promising opportunities. Sophie Nachtigall's through ball ultimately set up the opening goal for Frankfurt, finished off by Lara Prasnikar (19'). Seven minutes later, goalkeeper Charlotte Voll blocked Remina Chiba's shot away for a corner.
Having been pushed back, Leverkusen created their first real chance on 32 minutes, when Estrella Merino Gonzalez's cut-back found Caroline Kehrer, who rounded goalkeeper Lina Altenburg but couldn't beat the tight angle. Shortly before half-time, ex-Leverkusen woman Lisanne Gräwe made it 2-0 with a shot on the turn.
Pätzold brought on Julia Mickenhagen for Selina Ostermeier at the break. His side came out of the dressing room with energy but continued to struggle to find gaps in the well-organised Frankfurt defence. Instead, Voll was called into action to stop Chiba's powerful effort. Mickenhagen then lacked the power on her header from a corner to reduce the deficit (63').
Soon after, substitute Paulina Bartz went close with a free kick before Eintracht made it three. Substitute Laura Freigang could only hit the post but Chiba tapped in the rebound for her second of the day (73'). In the closing stages, another ex-Leverkusen player found the net, with Elisa Senß making it a final score of 4-0.
The 18th matchday in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga follows next weekend. In the headline match, Leverkusen face German champions and league leaders FC Bayern Munich on Sunday, 30 March (15:15 CEST) at the FC Bayern Campus.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Voll - Merino Gonzalez, Ostermeier (Mickenhagen 46'), Friedrich, Vidal - Zdebel (Sosnik 85') , Grant (Daedelow 64') - Skinnes Hansen (Bartz 64'), Bender (Coskun 78') - Boboy (Martens 85'), Kehrer
Eintracht Frankfurt: Altenburg - Wamser, Doorsoun (Kleinherne 46'), Veit, Riesen (Wolter 64') - Sanvig, Pawollek (Reuteler 46'), Nachtigall (Lührßen 64'), Gräwe (Senß 60') - Prasnikar (Freigang 46'), Chiba
Goals: 0-1 Prasnikar (19'), 0-2 Gräwe (45'), 0-3 Chiba (73'), 0-4 Senß (84')
Referee: Annika Hinrichs (Haitz)
Attendance: 494 at the Schulstadion in Westerburg
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career working as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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