FC Bayern Women face stiff test against French champions

A clash of champions! FC Bayern Women round off their pre-season preparations with a friendly against OL Lyonnes on Tuesday 26 August. The match between the German and French champions kicks off at 15:00 CEST in Herzogenaurach.

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After the team spent the past week at a training camp in Tyrol, the clash with Real Madrid marked the end of their intensive time together. The team recorded a convincing 4-1 win against the Spanish league runners-up at the FC Bayern Campus. José Barcala's team now have their final dress rehearsal against the French champions from Lyon before their first competitive match and their first chance of silverware in the Supercup on Saturday.

Lea Schüller with the ball at her feet during FC Bayern Women training. — FCB Women, featuring Lea Schüller, will use the friendly as a dress rehearsal ahead of the start of the season. | © FC Bayern / Marco Donato

Opponents: OL Lyonnes

The game against FC Bayern Women will be OL Lyonne's fourth pre-season friendly. The French club, which until the summer was known as Olympique Lyon féminin, are also on a training camp in Herzogenaurach and will play under a new name and with its own crest. After a 5-0 win against Swiss club Servette FC Chenois Féminin and winning 3-0 against newly-promoted Bundesliga club 1. FC Nürnberg, the Première Ligue record champions also won 3-1 against the London City Lionesses. This will be the French side's third clash with the German double winners this year: Lyon won both legs in last season's Champions League quarter-finals, in which Vanessa Gilles still wore the white and red jersey.

Team News

Head coach José Barcala will be without Barbara Dunst (recovery from cruciate ligament injury) and Giulia Gwinn (knee injury) for the friendly against OL Lyonnes. Tuva Hansen (muscular problems) is also unavailable. Pernille Harder is back in the squad following her hamstring problem.

Jose Barcala leads FC Bayern Women training — José Barcala was very happy with his team's performance after the friendly against Real Madrid. | © FC Bayern / Marco Donato

Pre-match quotes

"Against Lyon, we want to show that it doesn't matter who we come up against. It's crucial that we maintain our identity and play as a dominant team. We learnt from the friendly against Real Madrid that we can play terrific football if we get going and follow a clear plan. Now it's about understanding exactly how we achieved this so we can deliver this performance even more often and even better in future," said head coach José Barcala.

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