Fresh from the weekend’s Bundesliga win away at Köln, FC Bayern Women continue their journey to return to Cologne in May as they visit Kickers Offenbach in the DFB Cup round of 16 on Wednesday. Kick-off at the Stadion am Bieberer Berg is at 19:00 CET. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our preview.
State of play
The 5-0 win in Cologne last weekend ensured Bayern remain top of the Bundesliga table with 33 points after 13 games, one ahead of Wolfsburg in second.
In the cup, Alexander Straus’s team have so far only played one match. That was the season’s opening fixture as goals from Pernille Harder and Jovana Damnjanovic earned the Munich ladies a 2-0 win against Bundesliga 2 side Andernach in the second round. The winner of this tie in Offenbach will face Carl Zeiss Jena in the quarter-finals.
Opponents: Kickers Offenbach
The Kickers are currently fifth in the third-tier Regionalliga Süd with 18 points from 12 games. Johannes Munkelt’s team are on a run of four games without defeat.
Offenbach entered the DFB Cup in the first round where they beat lower league Reigelsberg 2-0. A 3-0 victory over divisional rivals Hegnach in the second round saw them through to this tie with Bayern.
Team news
Straus remains without the following players for the cup game in Offenbach: Carolin Simon (cruciate ligament), Weronika Zawistowska (cruciate ligament), Cecilia Ran Runarsdottir (kneecap), Magdalena Eriksson (metatarsal), Ana Maria Guzman (knee) and Tainara (illness).
“The DFB Cup is very important for us”
Alexander Straus: “The intensity in training is extremely high right now. The players give the impression they’re very hungry. We’re very confident at the moment, and that’s very promising. We’re preparing for Offenbach just like we would any other opponent. We’re obviously looking forward to the game and a big crowd. But at the end of the day, we’re going there to win. The DFB Cup is very important for us.”
Jull Baijings: “The mood within the team is really good right now. We’ve had some really strong games of late. We’ve shown how we want to play and the quality in the team. Now we’re looking forward to Offenbach. We’re taking the game very seriously. It’s never easy against teams that sit deep. Offenbach will want to keep it at 0-0 for as long as they can. We on the other hand want an early goal. The cup game is very important and we absolutely want to progress to the next round, and ultimately win the cup. We’re training very hard for that right now and working hard every day. We’re working a lot on our passing accuracy and speed. We want to move the ball better, be better at shifting the play from side to side and create more space. The goal is to create more scoring chances and score more goals. That’s worked well in the last two games.”
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