Was that the decision in this game – and in the German championship? 38 minutes were over, in an attempt to push FC Bayern forward, Munich central defender Glódís Viggósdóttir shot the ball energetically out of the goal area, stupidly directly at Wolfsburg’s Lena Oberdorf. She passed it on at the speed of thought. And then Bayern’s goalkeeper Janina Leitzig had no chance. Tabea Waßmuth, who was not guarded by anyone because everyone had already turned in the other direction, effortlessly scored to make it 3-0 for VfL. The scene exemplified dominance on the one hand and hapless struggles on the other. Half time later it was clear: FC Bayern had not been able to free themselves, Wolfsburg surprisingly won the Bundesliga top game 6-0 (3-0).
The day had already started with bad news for FC Bayern. Sydney Lohmann had tested positive for Corona in the morning. Ironically, the footballer who had recently attracted attention with so much dynamism. The virus had previously made it difficult for coach Jens Scheuer’s team to successfully complete challenging tasks. Seven players recently had to isolate themselves. In Sarah Zadrazil, Jovana Damnjanovic and Viggósdóttir, three returned from quarantine to start on Sunday.
But that wasn’t enough to prevent a preliminary decision in the championship. Only one point separated leaders Wolfsburg and defending champions Bayern before kick-off. VfL had won the first leg in November 1-0, but the Munich team then developed a better record as the season progressed: No team had scored more goals (66) and conceded as few (12) before this 19th matchday as they did. In view of a lighter remaining program, VfL should hardly let the new lead be taken away. FC Bayern must hope for a blunder – Scheuer had already made it clear that the probability of this happening is extremely low: he spoke of a “final”. However, how clear this has now turned out to have surprised him too.
This encounter marks the end of two eventful weeks for both teams
The women from Wolfsburg started highly focused and committed. In the 8th minute, Svenja Huth dribbled into the penalty area, Giulia Gwinn accompanied her more than stood in her way. Huth took off. It was the first dangerous conclusion – and a direct hit. Bayern tried to equalize, but were either not determined enough in the final meters or were decisively disrupted and again had problems defending VfL’s attacks with confidence. It was then Joelle Wedemeyer who scored the 2-0 with a header (33rd minute).
As the game progressed, the Munich team showed that they had lost more power than their opponents. They didn’t manage to gain control of the game, on the contrary, the dominance of the Wolfsburg team increased with every passing minute. “Wolfsburg was brutally effective,” said national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg during the break on NDR: “Bayern’s performance can of course be explained. They lack physical and mental freshness. That’s very unfortunate for Bayern.”
This encounter marked the end of two eventful weeks for both teams. In the Champions League, Wolfsburg had reached the semi-finals against Arsenal, while FC Bayern – with only two field players on the bench – narrowly lost to Paris Saint-Germain. Both were part of success stories. 13,000 spectators came to the first leg in the Allianz Arena, a new home game record. VfL also moved to the Volkswagen Arena for the premier class and set a record of 11,293 spectators. Irrespective of this, the footballers on both sides were particularly enthusiastic that FC Barcelona set a new world record against Real Madrid with 91,553 spectators, which attracted a lot of attention.
Well, in everyday life, 3037 spectators in the AOK Stadium saw the Wolfsburg women continue after the break where they had stopped before. Bayern surprisingly replaced the only 18-year-old Cecilía Rán Rúnarsdóttir in goal. The Icelander made her Bundesliga debut and, like Leitzig before her, was under constant pressure. In the 77th minute she had no chance when her team-mates left Alexandra Popp unguarded after a corner, who scored the 4-0 with a header. Again after a corner, Rúnarsdóttir boxed the ball into Oberdorf’s feet to make it 5-0 (82′) and finally, after another corner, Ewa Pajor (90’+1) was also able to add himself to the top scorer list. Standards had already cost FC Bayern progress in the Champions League against Paris.
The rivalry between VfL Wolfsburg and FC Bayern will continue during the upcoming international break with DFB women’s World Cup qualifiers against Portugal (April 9, 4:10 p.m., ARD) and away against Serbia (April 12, 4 p.m., ZDF). rest for a few days. But immediately afterwards, on Easter Sunday, the next reunion is coming up. This time in the semifinals of the DFB Cup.