FC Bayern Women extend run despite red card

FC Bayern Women continued their winning start to the season with a 4-0 victory away at Werder Bremen on Sunday. Lea Schüller opened the scoring in the first half before Georgia Stanway doubled the advantage after the break. Pernille Harder and Jovana Damjanovic then added a third and fourth late on. Captain Glódis Perla Viggósdóttir was sent off for a second yellow card early in the second half.

Three changes

Alexander Straus made three changes to the team that started Monday’s 5-1 win over Hoffenheim. Linda Sembrant returned in defence in place of Carolin Simon, while Schüller came in for Damnjanovic. Sarah Zadrazil was rested as a precaution following a muscular issue, with Sam Kerr filling her spot.

Schüller hits opener

Bayern were dominant from the start and had the ball in the Bremen goal inside six minutes, but Viggósdóttir’s finish from Giulia Gwinn’s free-kick was ruled out for offside. Tuana Mahmoud had the first chance for the hosts with a long-range effort that Mala Grohs pushed over the bar. Things continued in one direction towards the Werder goal after that. The breakthrough finally came in the 26th minute when Schüller met Klara Bühl’s corner on the volley at the far post.

Viggósdóttir sees red

The second half got off to a bad start for the defending champions as Viggósdóttir was dismissed for a second yellow card, leaving Bayern a player down for 40 minutes. Given their numerical advantage, Bremen grew more confident and had an immediate chance to equalise when Caroline Siems collected a cross into the box and tried to square, but Gwinn was there to clear. Moments later, Grohs was forced into another save from Juliane Wirtz.

The Munich Frauen came through that spell of pressure and moved clear when Stanway fired into the top corner from over 20 yards with 71 minutes on the clock. And with Werder throwing everyone forward in the closing minutes to try and get back in it, space opened up for Bayern to break into. They did just that, as Harder slotted in a third with five minutes to go and then Damjanovic produced a lovely chip to net a fourth barely 60 seconds later. The result keeps Bayern top of the table on 12 points from four games, two clear of those below.

Köln then Wolfsburg

Next up for Bayern is a home game against Köln on Saturday, 5 October. Kick-off at the Campus is at 2pm CEST. The following week sees the champions head to Wolfsburg and the Volkswagen Arena on Saturday, 12 October (5.45pm). Tickets for both games are available HERE.