Women: 3-1 win in friendly against Borussia Mönchengladbach

“We played an intense match today against a tough opponent who even gave FC Bayern a hard time in the Pokal,” said Pätzold: “Ultimately, we created the far clearer chances and, as a result, won the match. We’re pleased to have had such a high-calibre friendly during the league break.”

Assistant coach Friederike Mehring, who had also planned the week’s training sessions, took charge of the friendly. With a total of eight international players absent and a few first-team players rested, six players from the U23s filled out the squad: Nina Kerkhof, Jana Lindner, Angelie Martens, Ilayda Muslu, Chayenne Schwarz and Amelie Sosnik. In the starting XI, goalkeeper Charlotte Voll played behind a back four of Lindner, Lilla Turanyi, Emily Wallrabenstein and Justine Brandau. Paulina Platner and captain Carolin Simon started in holding midfield with Marlene Müller and Vanessa Fudalla started in attacking midfield. Up front, the strike partnership consisted of Loonen and Kehrer. On the bench, alongside the U23 quintet and goalkeeper Louisa Remien, was forward Valentina Mädl, making her first appearance following a break of several weeks due to a muscle injury.

penalty after 30 Seconds

The Werkself, playing in their white away kits for the first time, got off to a flying start. After less than 30 seconds, Kehrer went down following a foul inside the opposition’s penalty area. Loonen confidently converted the resulting penalty with a precise shot into the right-hand corner (1’). The Gladbach women, coached by Jonas Spengler, had to recover from this early setback, but initially struggled to create any noteworthy chances on Voll’s goal. In the 24th minute, the Leverkusen goalkeeper played a long ball to Kehrer, who had made a run into space; her wayward low shot posed little threat to Erkens.

A few minutes later, full-back Brandau brought down a Gladbach attacker in the box – the second penalty of the first half. Kiki Scholten beat Voll to level the score for the team sitting second in the Women’s Bundesliga 2. Shortly before the end of the first half, the Dutch player Brandau launched another Werkself attack down the left flank: her pass, played on by Fudalla, found captain Simon, who drove into the box and found Kehrer with a lob. The Canadian simply had to tap the ball in to put Leverkusen back in front (41’) – the teams went into the break with the scoreline at 2–1.

After the restart, Mädl came on for Lindner, marking her comeback after several weeks out with injury. The Austrian showed great commitment straight away and had an early shot on goal (47'). Shortly afterwards, Loonen shot over from five metres and missed out on a brace (49').

Mädl scorews on Comeback

Mädl, who continued to show great commitment, was rewarded in the 66th minute when her precise, low shot from the edge of the penalty area flew unstoppably into the Gladbach net. Leverkusen, who brought on all their U23 players in the closing stages, comfortably held on to their two-goal lead as a result and celebrated a well-deserved 3–1 win.

next up: eintracht Frankfurt after international break

Following the international break, the Werkself will be back in action in ten days’ time with their next home match. On Saturday 17 October (14:00 CEST), the Black and Reds entertain Eintracht Frankfurt at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on matchday seven. Tickets for the match are available HERE from the ticket web shop.

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Voll – Lindner (Mädl 46’/Martens 71’), Turanyi, Wallrabenstein (Sosnik 61’), Brandau – Platner, Simon (Muslu 80’) - Müller, Fudalla - Loonen (Schwarz 85’), Kehrer (Kerkhof 80’)

Borussia Mönchengladbach starting XI: Erkens – Thomassen, Deutsch, Cava Marin, Drissen, Celissen, Scholten, Bartsch, Kessels, Arici, Deyß

Goals: 1–0 Loonen (1’, pen.), 1–1 Scholten (30’, pen.), 2–1 Kehrer (41’), 3–1 Mädl (66’)

Referee: Laura Duske (Cologne)

Attendance: 70 at the Kurtekotten Training Centre