Joy and sorrow are so often close together in life. Last Saturday, FC Bayern Women celebrated winning the German championship thanks to a 2-1 victory at Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Just five days later, the Munich girls were defeated by VfL Wolfsburg in the DFB Cup final. Despite a battling display, Bayern went down 2-0, leaving coach Alexander Straus and his team with no choice but to congratulate VfL on winning the trophy – their tenth in a row.
Straus: 'Reacted too much and acted too little'
Bayern midfielder Sarah Zadrazil tussles with Wolfsburg's Svenja Huth.
It wasn't to be on this Thursday afternoon. In contrast to large parts of the season, Bayern Women couldn't impose their usual dominance on the She-Wolves. "We didn't get into the challenges and didn't get into our game. If you don't manage to do that, you're going to fail here," analysed Klara Bühl. Straus added: "In a match like this, you have to be there in every moment and in every challenge, which we weren't today. We reacted too much and acted too little." Despite falling behind early, the Bavarians didn't give up, left their heart on the pitch and tried to fight back, but just lacked the final accuracy. And so Straus' side conceded what proved to be the decisive second goal before the first half was even up.
Disappointment for FCB
The disappointment among Giulia Gwinn and the Bayern women was understandably deep at full time in the cup final.
"It's obviously a massive disappointment. It wasn't what we hoped," said Bühl, trying to find the right words immediately after the game. But even if the disillusionment after losing the final and missing out on a first league and cup double in the club's history is understandably great, it is important to focus on the many positive things that the Munich girls have shown this season. For example, Bayern Women went 14 games unbeaten after the winter break, including a highly deserved 4-0 win at Wolfsburg in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga. The defeat in the cup final was only one of two overall in the current season.
Excitement for coming season
Sydney Lohmann and FC Bayern Women had to settle for the silver medal.
It's precisely that consistency that made the Munich girls German champions with two matchdays to spare. It's important to remember that now because a lot is possible with this team, as emphasised by president Herbert Hainer: "Unfortunately we fell a few metres short of the first double in the history of FC Bayern Women. Nevertheless we're proud of this team, who just a few days ago defended the Bundesliga title. It won't be the last final that FC Bayern Women get to."
So, girls: chin up and keep going! You can be hugely proud of yourselves despite the defeat in the final. We're already looking forward to the forthcoming season and hopefully many more trophies that we can celebrate with you.
All the post-match reaction:
Topics of this article