Second at winter break. FCB Women secure home win against Leverkusen

• Eighth win in eighth home game
• Second at the winter break
• Stanway and Lohmann score

The FC Bayern Women celebrate a home win in the final Bundesliga match of the year and go into the winter break in second place. The team coached by Alexander Straus beat Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-0 on Saturday afternoon in the FLYERALARM Women's Bundesliga. Three days after the prestigious victory against Barcelona, Georgia Stanway gave the FCB Women the lead on the half-hour mark at the FC Bayern Campus. Sydney Lohmann (62') rounded off the scoring at 2-0 in the second half.

This was the eighth win in the eight home game this season across all competitions. Thanks to the win, the Bayern Women are second in the Women's Bundesliga with 25 points at the winter break. The gap to league leaders VfL Wolfsburg is two points but the Wolves have a game in hand.

Tainara on from the start

Straus made just one change to his starting line-up compared with the sensational 3-1 win against Barça in front of 24,000 fans at the Allianz Arena in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Saki Kumagai replaced Maximiliane Rall, who suffered a broken nose in the WCL game. It was appearance number 50 for the FC Bayern Women for the Japanese player.

Narrow half-time lead

The home team started well in spite of icy temperatures and snow. The FCB skipper Lina Magull had the first chance on four minutes but her effort from a tight angle was kept out by keeper Friederike Repohl. The Bayern Women remained in charge of the game but found it difficult to penetrate the Leverkusen defence. Repohl was back in action on 29 minutes when she denied Sarah Zadrazil the chance to make it 1-0. The keeper was finally beaten one minute later. Zadrazil put Stanway through and the playmaker did not hesitate as she hit her shot into the corner of the net for a deserved half-time lead.

Clinical Bayern punish Leverkusen

The FCB Women found it difficult to get going in the second half and were lucky on 55 minutes when a free kick from Jill Bayings hit the bar. The Bayern Women remained unmoved and were able to extend their lead on 62 minutes. A pass from Carolin Simon was converted by the agile Lohmann to make it 2-0. The home team then kept it tight and were comfortably able to secure the win. There was good news late on for Ivana Rudelić when she celebrated her comeback from injury.

In Malmö and home to Benfica

There are still two games in the Champions League before the Women's team of the German record champions go into a well-deserved winter break. The FCB Women are away to FC Rosengård on Thursday 15 December. The match at the Idrottsplats in Malmö kicks off at 18.45 CET. A week later on Wednesday 21 December there is the final game of the year at the FC Bayern Campus against Benfica with that match kicking off at 21.00 CET.