Winning goal shortly before the end
She-wolves take advantage of FC Bayern’s serious mistake
December 19, 2023, 11:18 a.m
The women of FC Bayern Munich have to clear the top of the Bundesliga table before the winter break: Because the champions make a mistake, their big rivals pass. VfL Wolfsburg are struggling hard themselves, but they still have that crucial bit of luck.
The VfL Wolfsburg footballers took advantage of FC Bayern Munich’s mistake and pushed the German champions out of first place in the Bundesliga table in the last game of the year. The “Wolves” won 1-0 (0-0) against Werder Bremen and are now heading into the six-week winter break as leaders. The defending champions from Munich only played 1-1 on Saturday against promoted team 1. FC Nürnberg, who had previously lost seven of the first nine games of the season.
In Wolfsburg’s AOK Stadium, Dominique Janssen only scored the winning goal for VfL in the 83rd minute with an unsuccessful cross. Back in November, coach Tommy Stroot’s team won this northern duel in the DFB Cup 5-0. This time VfL was even lucky: a goal by the strongly defending Bremen team was disallowed in the 15th minute due to foul play. Shortly after the break, Werder captain Michelle Ulbrich hit the post (47th).
“For us today it was about the balance between the question of how far we can go in terms of play and to what extent we have to simplify our game a bit in order to force scoring opportunities,” said a relieved Stroot. “The game reflected the course of our season to a certain extent. We don’t get much for free and we have to work hard. All in all, it was a deserved victory, albeit in a fortunate way. And such victories are extremely valuable over the course of the season. They are Key moments.”
“One of the best teams in the world” makes a mistake
At FC Bayern the mood was different. Between the important Champions League games against Ajax Amsterdam, coach Alexander Strauss made five changes to his team. With Giulia Gwinn, Linda Dallmann, Sydney Lohmann and Sarah Zadrazil, five national players were on the bench at the start. After five league wins in a row, things seemed to be going well for the Bayern women in Nuremberg: Lea Schüller took the lead with a left-footed shot in the eleventh minute. However, the Munich team failed to make a decisive contribution; instead, central defender Glodis Perla Viggosdottir hit her opponent Vanessa Haim with her elbow in the penalty area.
Medina Desic (72nd) safely converted the penalty that was due, after which the favorite continued to storm the FCN goal furiously for a quarter of an hour. Giulia Gwinn (83′) and Jovana Damnjanovic (85′), who hit the post, missed great chances to win. With luck and passion, outsiders Nuremberg survived ten minutes of added time unscathed – and were able to celebrate the draw as a victory: “We had nothing to lose in this game and are now overjoyed about the point,” said goal scorer Dedic. “We got a draw against one of the best teams in the world.”