Bayern Fall To UWCL Record Champions | OneFootball

The FC Bayern Frauen played host to Olympique Lyonnais following their big league victory over Wolfsburg on Friday. Head Coach Alexander Straus made a massively surprising six changes from the professional win against Köln last Sunday.

This article written by Matthew Coates

Mala Grohs made her first appearance since her return from cancer treatment, replacing Mahmutovic. Linda Sembrant and Tuva Hansen replaced Glódis and Simon at the back, winter signing Ariana Caruso made her first start ahead of Lohmann in midfield. And up top, Linda Dallmann and Lea Schüller started ahead of Alara and Damnjanović.

The Bayern XI was as follows:

Mala Grohs (GK) – Giulia Gwinn, Linda Sembrant, Magdalena Eriksson, Tuva Hansen – Arianna Caruso, Sarah Zadrazil (c) – Klara Bühl, Linda Dallmann, Pernille Harder, Lea Schüller

Bayern came into this match knowing that due to Frankfurt’s shock defeat away to Freiburg, they are now six points clear in the league. However, this is Bayern’s biggest game for the last few seasons, so form goes out of the window.

Lyon are 10 points clear of PSG in their league, having only dropped points once so far, and will be looking to return to the UWCL final in an attempt to claim yet another UWCL crown.

Lyon won all six games in the group stage, meaning they finished nine clear of Wolfsburg, scoring nineteen and conceding just once in the process.

Disappointing (End to The) First Half

Lyon began the first half with the majority of possession, but the chances that came about for either side were scrappy. Lyon had their first attempt in the sixth minute, after a cross was hooked away by Caruso but only as far as Chawinga, whose subsequent effort was blocked by the Italian, atoning for her mistake.

There was a long break in play after Gwinn took studs to the lower shin in the eighth minute, but luckily she was able to continue. Shortly after play resumed, Bayern broke on the counter, but the eventual shot from Caruso lacked precision and thus whistled wide of the post.

Bayern’s captain on the night, Zadrazil, had a shot from distance in the 14th minute, but it was always rising and thus caused no issues for Endler in the Lyon net. Minutes later, Bühl curled a speculative effort from the left to the far post, but it did end up narrowly wide.

After some confident possession play by Bayern, Dumornay latched onto a Lyon clearance in the 22nd minute and was running down on goal, only for her shot to be blocked by Eriksson at the last second.

From the resulting corner, Lyon captain Renard had a free header in the centre of the box, but luckily her header was wide. From the next corner, Bacha produced a spectacular cross-field ball toward Bayern’s back post from near the half-way line, but Heaps could only redirect the ball into the grateful hands of Grohs.

Although Lyon looked the better team in possession, you could feel that Bayern were competing and as long as they avoided silly mistakes, you felt they had a chance.

Unfortunately, disaster struck in the 35th minute. A long ball forward from Lyon was taken down by Sembrant, who controlled it into Chawinga who set off 1-on-1 with Grohs. That did not seem to phase her, as she finished comfortably on her left foot into the far corner, 0-1.

Lyon looked firmly in the control until the end of the half, where a slightly late tackle by Zadrazil on Carpenter in the Bayern box was reviewed by VAR. Unfortunately, a penalty was given and Lyon had the chance to extend their lead moments before half time.

Heaps stepped up, and her penalty was saved by Mala Grohs down to her right! A really beautiful story on her return to professional football, and heartwarming to see. More importantly, this meant that Bayern were still in this tie at half-time.

Desperate Second Half

Bayern came out desperate to score, and in the 49th minute, they probably should have done. Harder was quick to react for a loose pass in Lyon’s own third, and cleverly slipped through Bühl one-on-one. Bühl had been lively all game, but this time, her shot was mishit and spun into the side netting to the relief of Endler.

Eriksson had an acrobatic effort on goal following a corner in the 56th minute, but Endler was comfortable in claiming efforts like that all day.

Moments later, Lyon broke out of Bayern’s press and Dumornay found Diani behind Bayern’s defensive line, but Grohs came out well and made a great save to deny her.

She would be needed more just a few minutes later, after Dumornay picked out Heaps, but Grohs was there to deny her. She denied her again less than a minute later, as Heaps’ curled effort from just outside the box was confidently caught by Grohs.

Bayern were desperate for some changes, but Straus only made the one in the 63rd minute, replacing Dallmann with Damnjanović.

Straus clearly did not get the instant impact he was hoping for, as in the 65th, Lyon extended their lead. A long ball froward from Renard to Dumornay was expertly headed onto Heaps, who was composed and found Dumornay excellently in the box to finish past Grohs. Nothing the young goalkeeper could do in that situation, 0-2.

Bayern attempted to respond through Bühl, as she created space for a dangerous cross toward the back post in the 69th minute, but just before it reached Schüller for a tap-in, Bacha was there to head it behind for a corner.

Straus wasted little time in making more changes, this time making three: Schüller for Tanikawa, Lohmann for Caruso and Simon for Hansen.

Harder was still tirelessly pressing in the 77th minute, and played a lovely ball into the path of Bühl, but she was exhausted and could not create the space to shoot on goal before it was cleared.

Lyon had the luxury of bringing on former Ballon d’Or winner Hegerberg, but her first attempt on goal was claimed by Grohs at the near post in the 79th minute.

Harder would end up having Bayern’s only shot on target in the 81st minute, but only to see her shot blocked by Renard. This was after some excellent work by Bühl down the left, as she had done all evening.

Bayern’s final change was switching Sembrant for Alara, but unfortunately the wonderkid could not do anything, and Bayern had lost the first leg 0-2.

DFB Pokal Semi Final Awaits

Bayern will have to pick themselves up from this disappointing result in an attempt to reach their second successive DFB Pokal final on the weekend. Bayern weren’t awful by any means tonight, but the result is what it is.

Lyon deserved to win and looked the better team throughout, and that is the reality that Bayern find themselves in – more than able to challenge Wolfsburg’s domestic dominance in Germany, but not quite at the level needed to knock out the UWCL record holders.

It would take a spectacular collapse from Lyon in the second leg to change that, so Bayern must now focus all of their energy into this cup match on the weekend. Bayern have shown that they are capable of beating Hoffenheim this season, but in the semi-finals of the cup, anything can happen. Hoffenheim managed to knock out Wolfsburg, so they are not by any means an ‘easy’ opponent.

I do want to shout out a few players for their performance today, although like I said, that should not take away from Bayern as a team. I thought Bühl and Harder worked exceptionally hard with pressing and creating chances.

I thought Caruso looked like an excellent carrier of the ball in midfield, consistently looking forward to create chances and start an attack, which is especially impressive on her first Bayern start.

And finally, a massive shout out to Mala Grohs, who performed exceptionally well. Not only the crucial penalty save, but tonight she saved everything she would be expected to save and more, which is incredibly impressive on her long-awaited return.

I was certainly nervous for her given the circumstances, but it is safe to say she eased those fears over the ninety minutes and has shown her quality. Bayern have two amazing young goalkeepers, which is an excellent position to be in. Next up, Bayern host Hoffenheim on Saturday 22nd March in the DFB Pokal Semi-final.