Back to league business! Following the international break, FC Bayern Women are back in FLYERALARM Women’s Bundesliga action this weekend with the rearranged fixture away to bottom-of-the-table 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam on Saturday 25 February. Kick-off at the Karl-Liebknecht Stadion is at 13:00 CET. From the state of play to the team news, our preview has all the info.
The state of play
The match against Postdam was supposed to take place at the start of February, but a frozen pitch led to the game being postponed at short notice. After an international break of almost two and a half weeks, head coach Alexander Straus has had just two days to prepare his side for the meeting with the cellar dwellers. Nevertheless, Straus’ charges travel to Brandenburg with momentum after the 2-1 victory over fellow title challengers Eintracht Frankfurt in the opening match of the second half of the season, their sixth straight win in the league.
The opponents
Turbine Potsdam’s record currently reads nine defeats and one draw. Having finished fourth last term and narrowly missed out on qualification for the Champions League, they face the threat of relegation to the second tier this year for the first time since 1994. Just before the original date for the meeting with Bayern, interim coach Sven Weigang stepped down, with previous assistant coach Dirk Heinrichs taking charge of the team for the coming weeks. Their first two fixtures of the year have both been called off, meaning this is Potsdam’s first competitive game since early December.
The statistics
These two sides have come up against each other 44 times in the Women’s Bundesliga, making it one of the most-played fixtures in the league. The stats are very close, with 19 wins for FCB, 18 for Potsdam and seven draws. The Brandenburg outfit haven’t beaten Bayern since 2016, though, and last managed a draw in December 2021.
The team news
Along with long-term absentees Giulia Gwinn (cruciate ligament tear) and Jovana Damnjanović (muscle strain), Strauss is without the services of Sydney Lohmann, who returned home from international duty early due to a muscular problem. Goalkeeper Laura Benkarth will also not travel to Potsdam because of illness.
Pre-match quotes
Head coach Alexander Straus: “I’m not thinking about Potsdam that much, I’m only concerned about us because that’s what matters. We need to produce our best performance right away on Saturday. We have no time to settle back in after the international break. We’re straight back into competition and need to deliver.”
Maximiliane Rall: “It’s always uncomfortable playing at Potsdam. They’re a team who fight their way into games. Especially in these types of games, you obviously always hope that you get an early goal because then the game can go our way straight away. We have the quality to score a goal sooner or later.”
A summary of the international break from an FCB Women perspective: