Confident first competitive outing: FCB Women progress in cup

FC Bayern Women won 2-0 in the second round of the DFB Cup on Sunday, their first competitive match of the new season. In the away tie at SG Andernach, Pernille Harder gave the Munich girls the lead in the 18th minute, before Jovana Damnjanović put the seal on it in the 74th minute.

Competitive debuts and milestone

Four summer signings made their competitive debuts for Bayern in Andernach, with Harder, Katharina Naschenweng, Sam Kerr and Jill Baijings included in the starting line-up. Striker Lea Schüller celebrated her 100th competitive appearance for FCB on Sunday.

Harder opens scoring

It took just five minutes for Bayern's first chance to arrive, Schüller heading narrowly wide of the target from Naschenweng's cross. Soon after it was again Schüller who popped up in a promising position in the penalty area, but this time goalkeeper Laura van der Laan was on hand.

The visitors had the vast majority of the play but the ball didn't want to go in for a long time. On 16 minutes, Schüller was again denied by an impressive save by van der Laan at close range, with the rebound from Naschenweng being blocked at the crucial moment.

Two minutes later, though, the Bavarians finally made the breakthrough when Klara Bühl's corner found Harder, who nodded in at the far post. In the 27th minute, another Bühl corner caused problems when the winger went directly for goal, but it hit the upright.

Damnjanović makes sure

Bayern continued to dominate after the restart, but without creating as many clear opportunities. Bühl had a goal disallowed for offside after being played in by Georgia Stanway in the 48th minute. At the other end, the defensive duo of Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir and Tainara stood firm, giving Maria Luisa Grohs a quiet afternoon in goal.

Little over an hour was played when the Munich girls had their next chance, substitute Damnjanović being foiled by van der Laan from close range. Just a minute later, the Andernach keeper excelled again when she saved from Harder.

However, van der Laan was then powerless to stop Damnjanović heading in from Tuva Hansen's right-wing cross with around a quarter of an hour left. Linda Dallmann had the best chance to add a third goal, firing wide from Damnjanović's square pass. Dallmann was again through on goal four minutes later, but could only strike the outside of the post from a tight angle. The final chance of the match belonged to the hosts, with Vanessa Zilligen lifting a lob wide of the goal from 16 metres.

"For Andernach it was probably the biggest game of the year. They gave everything and did really well. That made it tough for us, but it was important that we won. The focus is now on Freiburg on Friday, we need to keep working until then," said goalscorer Harder.

Bundesliga opener on Friday

After the cup opener, head coach Alexander Straus' side begin their title defence in the 2023/24 Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga this Friday, 15 September, as they visit Freiburg in the league. Following the subsequent international break, Bayern then have their first home match of the season against 1. FC Köln at the FC Bayern Campus on Monday 2 October (19:30 CEST).