FC Bayern Women miss out on Champions League final but gain continental respect with Camp Now showing

The roar of 60,021 people inside the Camp Nou fell silent within seconds. A single touch of the ball by Pernille Harder on the halfway line was enough as she disrupted Barcelona’s structured build-up, took the pace out of their game and seized control all the way to the penalty area. Her cross eventually found Linda Dallmann, who scored the equaliser in her 200th competitive match for FC Bayern Women – just four minutes after falling behind early on. It was a swift response and the moment when the Munich side showed Europe, for the first time that evening, why they deserve to be on the biggest stage.

From setbacks to fresh impetus

But, as is often the case in football, the euphoria on the Munich side was short-lived. Just five minutes after the equaliser, three-time World Player of the Year Alexia Putellas restored the Catalans’ lead. From then on, the hosts took control and sent cross after cross into the Bayern penalty area. Although this repeatedly opened up space for counter-attacks, they posed little real threat for the most part. “When we defend so deep, the route to the opposition goal is extremely long,” Dallmann explained of the first half after the match.

Shortly after the restart, the hosts struck twice, first through Ewa Pajor scored and then shortly afterwards with Putellas getting her second to make it 4-1 on the night. The Camp Nou was rocking. The flags waved in yellow and blue. The music played for the goal seemed to grow ever louder and never end. A score and circumstances that would break most teams’ spirits.

Yet, strange as it may sound, the louder it got, the more at ease Bayern seemed to feel. “It gives you a boost when you’ve got 60,000 people booing you,” said Bianca Rech after the match – a statement that perhaps describes what happened next better than anything else. For what followed was neither a desperate struggle for survival nor a mere reaction of defiance. It was the defiance of a team that refused to let the result dictate their behaviour, but instead used their performance to defy the result.

Camp Nou silenced

From then on, the visitors took control. The ball moved freely, the spaces opened up, and suddenly it was no longer Barcelona but Bayern who were dictating the play. In the 71st minute, their efforts were rewarded as Dallmann won the ball in the opposition’s half, switched play instantly and set up Harder for her eighth Champions League goal of the season. A move straight out of the script, as Giulia Gwinn explained: “We realised in the first leg that we can hurt them if we switch play quickly and get them into one-on-one or two-on-two situations.”

What followed was a spell of pressure that took Barcelona completely by surprise. Klara Bühl, seemingly on fire, controlled the left flank, from where she laid the ball back to substitute Arianna Caruso. Her shot from the edge of the box crashed against the underside of the crossbar. In the very same minute came the next double chance. This time Vanessa Gilles was denied by the in-form Cata Coll. The Blaugrana were reeling, unable to regain their footing, and could only relieve the pressure with long balls.

Attempting that final step

The tension in the Camp Nou stands was now palpable. At times, it almost seemed as though the 4-2 lead had been forgotten. The tireless Dallmann, who was almost impossible to contain and seemed to be everywhere at once, hit the crossbar in the 83rd minute. Shortly afterwards came the supposed, long-overdue goal to pull one back as Harder and Edna Imade combined with a one-two into the penalty area, where the Dane finished coolly. But, just as at the start of the evening, the celebrations were short-lived as VAR intervened and disallowed the goal.

“All in all, we put in a very good showing. We had chances to score a third goal today – in fact, we did score it – and that would’ve made for a really tense finale. Ultimately, it’s about taking away what we achieved. Looking back with a bit of perspective, it’s a performance we can be proud of,” said a visibly disappointed but also proud Gwinn after the final whistle.

It was the pride of a player who, along with her entire team, refused to be beaten down even after a sobering 7-1 defeat against the same opponent in the opening game of this Champions League season. A team that worked tirelessly on its own development, continued to improve and, 208 days later, in the same city, impressively demonstrated this progress on the biggest stage in European football – thereby proving, if nothing else, that they belong here.

Crowning glory of an unprecedented season

But even though the shattered dream of reaching the final still weighs heavily on their minds and hearts at the moment, this season is far from over. Although FC Bayern Women have secured a fourth consecutive Bundesliga title, this team’s ambitions do not end with lifting the trophy. Hoffenheim and Frankfurt are the next high-calibre tests on the horizon, and they will do everything in their power to throw a spanner in the works of the Bayern machine, which remains unbeaten so far in the Bundesliga.

And then on 14 May there’s the next chapter to unfold in front of a huge crowd as Bayern take on old rivals Wolfsburg once again in the DFB Cup final in Cologne. A match in which it is not just a matter of defending last year’s title and securing the double for the second year running. It is also about crowning a season that is unparalleled in the history of the Women’s Bundesliga – and one that everyone involved can look back on with a mixture of exhaustion, satisfaction and a good dose of pride.

🗞️ Our report from the second leg in Barcelona: