Bitter certainty for FC Bayern Munich: The German champions will have to do without top performer Pernille Harder for “several weeks”.
As the Bundesliga club announced on Tuesday, the offensive player suffered a medial ligament injury to her right knee in the 2-0 win at SGS Essen last Sunday – a devastating diagnosis.
The Danish international, who only moved from Chelsea to Isar in the summer, suffered the injury when she scored the opening goal to make it 1-0 and was subsequently substituted.
It is unclear whether Harder will be fit in time for the clash against VfL Wolfsburg on November 5th. The 30-year-old played for the rivals from Lower Saxony for several years.
Coach Alexander Straus’s team will play their next Bundesliga game on Saturday (5:55 p.m./ARD and MagentaSport) against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Allianz Arena.
FC Bayern achieved a double coup with Harder and Eriksson
In Germany, Harder achieved the double four times and two Champions League finals in her three and a half years in Wolfsburg. She scored an impressive 105 goals in 114 competitive games.
In 2020 she finally went to England. For the then record fee of 350,000 euros, she joined Chelsea FC, with whom she won the championship and FA Cup double, among other things. After three seasons with the Blues, Harder moved to FC Bayern.
Together with Europe’s footballer of the years 2018 and 2020, her life partner Magdalena Eriksson also moved to Munich. Both have been in a relationship since May 2014.
After the double deal, Bayern’s sports director Bianca Rech spoke of a “big day” for the club: “Because we managed to bring two players with this quality to FC Bayern, who are outstanding not only on the pitch but also off it personalities are.”
Now Harder has to watch for a while.