© FC Bayern
FC Bayern Women return to action following the international break as they kick off another busy spell with a Google Pixel Bundesliga game away at Köln on Sunday (kick-off at 2pm CET). Alexander Straus’s team regained first place with a 1-0 win at home to Werder Bremen last time out and now want to retain their spot at the summit as they visit the RheinEnergieStadion, where over 30,000 tickets have already been sold.
Bayern have been in high spirits in training this week. | © FC Bayern
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Bayern have been in good form of late and are unbeaten in their last six league games. Pernille Harder scored the golden goal to beat Werder at home in February. The victory took the defending champions to 38 points at the top of the table, but they are only three ahead of Eintracht Frankfurt and Wolfsburg directly below.
The Munich Frauen have also progressed in the DFB Cup, seeing off Frankfurt 4-1 in extra-time of the quarter-finals after Jovana Damnjanovic’s 90th-minute equaliser as the team target a return to Cologne for May’s final.
Recap the reverse fixture at home to Köln:
Opponent: Köln
Sunday’s hosts have seven points and a -26 goal difference to leave themselves in 10th place, but four points clear of the relegation zone. Britta Carlson’s team were beaten 2-0 by Freiburg last time out, having previously earned a draw in a goalless encounter with Essen.
Bayern claimed the spoils in the reverse fixture at the Campus thanks to Klara Bühl’s strike in the 71st minute. The Munich Frauen have won each of the last 13 Bundesliga meetings with the Cologne club by an aggregate score of 51-2.
Team news
Bayern make the trip to Cologne still without Lena Oberdorf (knee ligaments), Katharina Naschenweng (knee joint) and Georgia Stanway (knee ligaments). However, Sarah Zadrazil will be in the travelling squad after she was forced to withdraw the Austria squad during the international break.
Klara Bühl scored the winner in the home encounter with Köln. | © Imago
"It’s down to us"
Alexander Straus: “We’re focusing fully and completely on Köln. At the same time, given the squad available to us, we need to have a slight eye on the coming weeks. Köln have shown good performances against us and Wolfsburg this season. They’re very well organised and compact. It won’t be easy to break through them and create chances. But it’s all down to us and the performance we produce on the day. We definitely want to stick to our game plan and win all three points.”
Clara Schöne, assistant coach: “We’re really excited about the big crowd. Hopefully some of the 30,000 will be cheering us on. It won’t be easy against Köln. They’re very compact defensively, defend very well and are aggressive in their duels. They’ve definitely taken a step forward.”
A new season of FC Bayern Women’s documentary series comes out on Monday:
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