FC Bayern Women held by Zürich in friendly

FC Bayern Women were held to a 2-2 draw in their pre-season friendly against Zürich after a dramatic conclusion on Friday evening. Amelie Schuster had put the Swiss Super League club ahead in the opening stages before Alara Şehitler finally got José Barcala’s side back level with 12 minutes to go. Substitute Georgia Stanway put the Munich Frauen ahead not long after, but Kim Dubs’ added-time strike ensured it finished all square in Friedrichshafen.

Barcala: “We created a lot of chances”

“We saw two different halves today. We didn’t always find the right solutions in the first. We spoke about that at half-time and then did a better job,” Barcala said after full-time. “We were then really dominant in the second half, pressed higher and were more aggressive in our duels. That meant we created a lot of chances. That was more like what we want to see.”

Behind early on

Zürich made the better start when Schuster struck inside eight minutes, the former Bayern player firing past Mala Grohs into the top corner from 20 yards. Alara had the chance to level quickly when set up by debutant Natalia Padilla-Bidas, only to be denied by goalkeeper Yasmine Ammar. The Munich Frauen controlled play after that but without creating much going forward. They were awarded a penalty shortly before half-time for a foul on Jovana Damnjanović, only for Alara to strike the post.

Three late goals

Things were similar after the restart despite a number of half-time substitutions. A Magdalena Eriksson header from a corner flew narrowly wide before Lea Schüller was denied by substitute goalkeeper Riana Gmür. There was no mistake from Alara in the 78th minute, though, when the 18-year-old tapped in a long overdue equaliser. Just five minutes later, newly crowned European champion Stanway put Bayern ahead when played in by Linda Dallmann. However, the Bavarians were unable to hold on to the win as Dubs slotted in from a narrow angle two minutes beyond the 90.

Real Madrid up next

Germany’s double winners have another friendly on Thursday as they host Real Madrid at the FC Bayern Campus at 4pm CEST.