Women’s Bundesliga: Bayern’s win against Eintracht is followed by a verbal exchange of blows

What the 1. FFC Frankfurt has never achieved in its glorious history, the footballers of Eintracht Frankfurt have achieved for the first time: competing in a sold-out stadium at the Brentanobad. 5,750 spectators provided a worthy setting for the top game between Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich (1:2). After the game, England international Georgia Stanway praised the “brilliant atmosphere” and once again explained how attractive the women’s Bundesliga is in many respects. »That’s why I like playing in Germany.«

The strong running and fighting midfielder had long since showered at the back exit of the main stand. There is no room in Frankfurt-Rödelheim for either a mixed zone or a press conference, but despite this poor condition, the players and coaches dutifully came to the door to present their analyses, which should be at least as entertaining as the course of the game. The Bavarians had started out hugely superior and had taken the lead through Klara Bühl after great preparatory work by Pernille Harder (21′), but then Eintracht dominated with a lot of passion and equalized through captain Laura Freigang after the best move of the day (67′). , before Lea Schüller headed Munich’s winning goal (77′), which wasn’t entirely undeserved given the masterly efficiency.

Eintracht coach Niko Arnautis still insisted that he “was the better team for over 70 minutes,” snapped at a reporter who asked him about his late substitutions (“Get your coaching license and stand there!”) and recommended the Bavarians, “to stop at a church on the way back and light a candle!” There was more than just contradiction from his counterpart Alexander Straus: the Bavarian team bus might stop at a fast food restaurant, but certainly not at a church, he replied Norwegian dryly and gave the agitated colleague the following tip: “It’s important to calm down and respect yourself.”

The Bayern coach acknowledges the developmental steps Eintracht has made (“Sometimes people forget that there is a third team at international level in Germany alongside Bayern and Wolfsburg”), but his team had two in the early stages, Being able to score three goals is also a sign of quality “when we are 13 points away.” That’s how big the gap is to Eintracht, who are hoping for Champions League qualification and third place again, thanks to the victory of TSG Hoffenheim slipped to fourth place.

Bayern, on the other hand, have consolidated their pole position and put VfL Wolfsburg under pressure against RB Leipzig (Monday 7:30 p.m.) before the summit meeting between the two exceptional teams in Wolfsburg (March 23, 5:45 p.m.). »Top teams win games when it matters most. That’s where we simply have our huge shortcoming,” admitted the frustrated Freigang from Frankfurt, who admired the opponent’s “maturity and calmness.” She gets a little tired of just patting herself on the back after almost every game against Bayern or Wolfsburg: “We finally want to win these games.” In the DFB Cup semi-final on March 30th, words like that can be followed by actions.

It’s actually a shame that the designated national coach Christian Wück didn’t stop by after his promotion was announced the day before. He would have seen that exactly the two national players who scored the DFB women’s ticket to the Olympics with their goals scored. He would also have noticed that Sydney Lohmann, who was highly valued by Horst Hrubesch, came off the bench late again. It is said that the midfielder is thinking very carefully about whether to extend her expiring contract in Munich. She is said to have lucrative offers from the league from which Georgia Stanway came to Bayern in 2022.