Battling performance goes unrewarded: FCB Women miss out on semi-final spot

• Bühl with the opening goal
• Caught cold after the restart
• Top games against Leverkusen and Frankfurt

FC Bayern Women have missed out on a place in the semi-finals of the UEFA Women's Champions League. Eight days after the 2-0 first leg defeat in Munich, head coach Alexander Straus' side were downed 4-1 (1-0) by record winners Lyon on Wednesday evening despite a strong first half showing. Klara Bühl gave Bayern the lead after just over half an hour (33rd minute), but Melchie Dumornay (46') and Kadidiatou Diani (54') then turned the game around for the hosts. Tabitha Chawinga added a third shortly afterwards (60') and Ada Hegerberg increased the lead to 4-1 in stoppage time (90'+4).

Alexander Straus: "It's disappointing after that first half. We did exactly what we set out to do and played extremely well against Lyon. It's tough to lose so clearly after two games, but teams like that punish you mercilessly when you make mistakes. We have to learn from this and stop giving our opponents so many chances in future. After the first leg defeat, we knew that everything had to go in our favour today. It did at first, but we then needed to be more consistent."

Pernille Harder: "We were really good in the first half and got a goal. But Lyon seized the momentum with their goal straight after the break. We wanted to carry on as before, but the early goal we conceded made it very difficult for us. But we can still be happy with the first half."

Four changes to the starting XI

Following the 3-2 win in the DFB Cup semi-final against TSG Hoffenheim, Straus made four changes to the starting XI. Maria Luisa Grohs was back in goal for Ena Mahmutovic, while the newly recovered Giulia Gwinn started in defence in place of Michelle Ulbrich. Julia Zigiotti came in for Sarah Zadrazil and Momoko Tanikawa replaced Alara Şehitler. Klara Bühl celebrated making her 150th appearance for FC Bayern Women at Lyon.

Bühl opens the scoring

With a 2-0 deficit from the first leg to make up, the Munich side made a determined start and pressed their opponents deep into their half, although they still lacked any clear-cut goalscoring opportunities. Pernille Harder twice got herself into promising positions, but just couldn’t connect with the ball on both occasions. The hosts then had the best chance of the opening quarter of an hour: Dzsenifer Marozsán drilled a free-kick towards Wendie Renard, who had made a run to the far post, but she just overhit the pass. (13').

Bayern continued to dominate the game and were rewarded for their efforts after just over 30 minutes: Carolin Simon won back possession, Tanikawa and Bühl combined with a one-two, with the latter making a run into the box to collect the ball. She finished clinically from a tight angle to make it 1-0 for the Bavarians (33'). After taking the lead, Bayern continued to press for the next goal. A free-kick from Bühl was knocked on by Marozsán, but the ball fizzed just past the left post. Shortly afterwards, Sydney Lohmann had a great chance from a corner but headed just over the bar (44').

Lyon turn the game around after the break

Bayern were caught cold right after the restart: Lyon surged forward with purpose and Dumornay headed in a cross from Diani from close range to make it 1-1 (46'). A few minutes later, the French side turned the game on its head: Diani won a challenge against Gwinn and finished coolly to make it 2-1 (54'). The Munich women now had to take more risks, which played into the hands of the hosts, who were strong on the counter-attack. Dumornay played a clever pass to Diani, who squared the ball to Chawinga, and all she had to do was slot it home (60').

A few minutes later, Bayern were just able to prevent a fourth goal with a last-ditch effort: Grohs made an impressive save from Damaris Egurrola's header before Zigiotti cleared the ball off the line with a bicycle kick (65'). The team, led by captain Magdalena Eriksson, threw everything they had into getting forward once more in the final stages, but the hosts defended their goal with aplomb and even extended the lead to 4-1 in stoppage time through Hegerberg (90'+4), which was how the game ended.

Two crunch matches in the coming weeks

Following their elimination from the UWCL, FCB Women have two crunch matches to look forward to in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga. This Sunday, 30 March, the Reds host Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who are fourth in the table. Kick-off at the FC Bayern Campus is at 15:15 CEST. After the international break, they then have a top-of-the-table clash at second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt. The match will take place on Saturday, 12 April, at 14:00 CEST at Deutsche Bank Park.