FC Bayern Women beat Fortuna Sittard 3-0 in friendly

FC Bayern Women won their first home game of the 2023/24 season at the Campus by beating Fortuna Sittard 3-0 in a friendly. In front of a crowd of 1,224 fans, Lea Schüler put Die Frauen ahead on 10 minutes before new signings Pernille Harder (17’) and Jill Baijings (32’) rounded off the scoring before half-time.

Debut goals for Harder and Baijings

Harder and Baijings were both in the starting XI as they made their first appearances in Bayern colours on Friday. Head coach Alexander Straus also opted to start Schüller, Klara Bühl and Tuva Hansen following their returns from World Cup action. Mala Grohs was also in goal following her ankle injury. Linda Dallmann came on in the 67th minute to play her first game since suffering a serious ankle injury in the DFB Cup quarter-final against Hoffenheim in February.

Three goals in first 45

Bayern had the majority of the ball from the start and controlled the game. The first chances came early, but Schüller narrowly missed a cross from Ines Belloumou before Baijings saw an effort flash just wide. Schüller then put Bayern ahead with a lob after being played in by a Belloumou long ball from her own half that took out the entire Sittard defence. Straus’s team then doubled the advantage seven minutes later. Baijings sent Hansen away down the right, who flashed the ball into the middle. Harder was then on hand from close range to flick in her first goal for Bayern.

Grohs made a strong save from Charlotte Hulst 26 minutes into her comeback after the Fortuna striker had gone clean through, but the Bayern keeper remained big and stuck out her arm in time. Not long after, Baijings also registered a debut goal at the Campus after Sam Kerr got past an opponent and sent Harder away down the right. The Dane took Schüller with her, who cut back to Baijings for the Dane to turn home and make it 3-0.

Dallmann returns

Straus made four changes at the break with the introduction of Jovana Damnjanovic, Lina Magull, Sydney Lohmann and Guilia Gwinn for Hansen, Harder, Schüller and Sarah Zadrazil. The second-half display wasn’t as fluid as the first, with the highlight coming in the 67th minute when Dallmann made her return to action after over six months out. Bayern then carved out two chances in quick succession. First a cross from Maximiliane Rall wasn’t held by substitute Fortuna goalkeeper Diede Lemey, and then a corner caused a scramble in the six-yard box before the ball was eventually cleared. Gwinn gave a reminder of her attacking abilities when the right-back set off with the ball over the halfway line, past a number of defenders before finally being stopped by Lemey. The final shot of note came in the 84th minute from Magull, that went narrowly over from the edge of the box.

Reaction

Straus: “The first half was very good. In the second half we made a lot of changes, so we lost the rhythm a bit. All in all, it was a good game and it was fun playing in front of so many fans at the Campus again.”

Dallmann on her comeback: “For me today it was about the moment of being back on the pitch again after such a long time. The recovery took longer than thought, so this was even nicer.”

Harder: “It was really nice to get my first minutes. I really enjoyed it. I feel very good here, the girls have taken good care of me and the backroom staff have helped me a lot. So, it’s been really easy for me to settle in.”

Cup then league

Next up for Die Frauen is a friendly against Manchester United on Wednesday, 6 September, which is taking place behind closed doors. The first competitive fixture of the season is on Sunday, 10 September as Straus and his team begin their DFB Cup campaign away at Andernach. Five days later defending champions Bayern kick off the new Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga away at Freiburg on Friday, 15 September (18:15 CEST).