FC Bayern Women earn battling draw against Barcelona

• Honours even in frantic first leg
• 31,000 crowd sets new record attendance for FCB in UWCL
• Second leg in Barcelona next Sunday

The first leg of the UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final between FC Bayern Women and FC Barcelona ended in a 1-1 draw on Saturday evening. In front of a crowd of 31,000 – a new club record in the competition – the Munich girls put in a strong and spirited performance despite having a player sent off, and will go to Barcelona for the second leg with everything to play for.

Watched by honorary president Uli Hoeneß, president Herbert Hainer, CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen, board member for marketing and sales Rouven Kasper as well as men’s first-team players Lennart Karl and Tom Bischof, the visitors from Spain made the better start and took the lead through Ewa Pajor in the seventh minute. Bayern fought back and equalised in the second half through Franziska Kett (69’), who was also shown a red card in the closing stages.

Barcala: ‘Very proud of the team’

José Barcala: “I’m very proud of the team. We had a clear game plan: phases of defending in a mid- and low block but also phases with high pressing. The team were very well organised at all times – with the exception of the goal, when we opened up the space in the middle too early. It’s extremely difficiult against Barcelona with a player less, but the team pulled together and didn’t get dispirited at any point. To give everything we had with 10 players makes me very proud.”

Gwinn: ‘Had the momentum in the second half’

Giulia Gwinn: “The biggest challenge against Barcelona is accepting that you won’t have much possession – without getting passive. Whenever we managed to get out of the first pressing action, we became a threat. We had the momentum in the second half, although the red card set us back. We could’ve done better with one or two chances, but we noticed: they’re not unbeatable, something is possible. We defended well until the end despite being outnumbered – we can be proud of this performance.”

Bühl: ‘You need that patience against Barcelona’

Klara Bühl: “It was an arduous game but you just need that patience against Barcelona – you can’t go to sleep at all. You have to be completely switched on. Our plan worked today, we forced through our own game better and at the same time adapted well to the opponents.”

Barcelona take early lead

Bayern initially deployed a low block and Barcelona had more of the possession early on, albeit without really threatening the Munich goal. The hosts registered the first notable opportunity, when Kett threaded the ball through to Klara Bühl, who laid it off to Pernille Harder. However, the Dane didn’t strike the ball cleanly from around 10 metres and the ball flew behind the goal (7’). Straight after that, the three-time Champions League winners took the lead with their first chance: Esmee Brugts broke free on the edge of the penalty area and delivered a pinpoint cross from the left flank to Pajor, who calmly finished first-time into the far corner (8’).

Narrow deficit at half-time

It took a while for Bayern to recover from the early blow but slowly they came back into the game, although it wasn’t until after the half-hour mark that they began to create chances again. Kett in particular twice went close with shots from the edge of the box, but Barcelona goalkeeper Cata Coll was equal to it both times.

Battling second half

The Catalans regained control of the game at the start of the second period, although it was Bayern who had the first sight of goal, Bernadette Amani’s effort from Bühl’s pass going well wide of the target (48’). At the other end, a cross from the right ran through to Brugts on the left corner of the box, but the full-back curled the ball wide of the far post.

Kett with the equaliser

Barça continued to dominate and a corner kick from León caused chaos in Bayern’s penalty area: the Spanish side had several attempts on goal before Ena Mahmutovic cleared the danger (60'). Four minutes later, a good opportunity presented itself for FCB at the other end on the counter-attack as Bühl found Bernadette Amani on the left side of the penalty area, but her cross to Harder was cleared by León. That moment marked the start of a better spell for Munich, and shortly after they were rewarded. With 69 minutes on the clock, the German champions equalised through Kett following a perfectly executed counter. Bühl sent Harder down the left flank and the forward cut the ball back into the middle for the 21-year-old, who kept her cool and scored.

Kett was in the spotlight again 11 minutes later. The German international pulled Salma Paralluelo by the hair as the pair raced for the ball and was shown a red card by referee Ivana Martincic. Head coach José Barcala was also dismissed shortly after for complaining too vehemently about the decision, but Bayern stood firm during a fiery final period to keep the score level.

Bremen away & second leg at Camp Nou

Next up for the Munich women is the rearranged Matchday 18 fixture at SV Werder Bremen this Wednesday (kick-off 18:00 CEST). Then on Sunday, the Champions League semi-final second leg against Barcelona takes place at Camp Nou at 16:30 CEST.