The women of FC Bayern Munich celebrate their Bundesliga premiere against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Allianz Arena. 20,000 people are expected. The anticipation comes with a certain routine – also because there is a lot at stake in terms of sport.
When FC Bayern Women’s coach Alexander Straus answered the question about how the week went, striker Lea Schüller was extremely surprised. Her coach’s mouth was full of normal football talk: “We’re happy with the training, with the intensity. We’re looking forward to the weekend. Eintracht Frankfurt is a difficult opponent. We have to bring our best game to the pitch,” said Straus. But the Norwegian didn’t speak the words in English. The 47-year-old, who is now entering his second season in Munich, answered in German, which is why Schüller said: “Guuuuut, very good.”
20,000 spectators expected in the Munich Arena
Straus has arrived in Munich, you can see that. Even if he only occasionally sprinkled in German words during the rest of the press conference. The coach expects an ordinary football game with unusual packaging this Saturday. He didn’t want to overstate the fact that the FC Bayern Women are playing for the first time in the Bundesliga against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Allianz Arena on Saturday: “It’s a football game. We saw it last year in the Champions League too. We have to play the game and not the place.
Schüller looked a little more euphoric at the big crowd: “I’m always happy to play in the Allianz Arena. It’s always something special. It’s fun and is always a highlight game, especially when there are a lot of spectators.” It is the third time that the Munich women are competing in the arena, which is usually reserved for men. However, the three games were Champions League games. Now around 20,000 spectators are expected in the Bundesliga.
Losses of Harder and Lohmann: “I have a lot of great players”
And yet it is gradually becoming common practice for women’s team games to take place in large stadiums. The game between SV Werder Bremen and 1. FC Köln will kick off in the Weserstadion on Saturday. And the Leipzig women also welcome VfL Wolfsburg where the men’s team actually plays. The big stage is becoming more commonplace.
At the same time, this also applies to the demands placed on the women of FC Bayern. Titles are now actually mandatory. Also because the Munich team is better positioned this season than ever before and has an extremely broad squad, which is also reflected in how they deal with them Injuries to star newcomer Pernille Harder and National player Sydney Lohmann shows. “It’s annoying, of course, but with Klara (Bühl) and Linda (Dallmann) we have players who are doing very well at the moment,” said Schüller and her coach was right. “We have a lot of great players. That’s what we’ve built and what we’ll continue to build on in the coming years. On Saturday there will be a national team player playing in almost every position.”
Schüller warns about Frankfurt: “Players who can hurt us”
Nevertheless, the game against Frankfurt is causing concern. Eintracht started the season with two defeats, but now seems to have recovered. After defeats against Essen and Wolfsburg, the Frankfurt women were able to win their first game against Leipzig in the Bundesliga and showed in the Champions League with a 5-0 win over Sparta Prague why Schüller warns: “They have a lot of players who can hurt us.”
The Munich team also lost against Frankfurt last season. The 0-0 draw at the beginning of the season could have had painful consequences in the end, but the Munich team narrowly prevailed in the championship race against Wolfsburg.
FC Bayern “not spectacular” yet
This season, too, there was a draw right at the start, which is why the Munich team has been chasing their rivals from Wolfsburg in the fight for the championship trophy since match day one. Schüller is still “pretty happy for the start of the season.” Coach Straus sees a good development, but now expects the implementation on the pitch: “There is still one or two levels up. We were stable, but couldn’t shine. We weren’t spectacular.” The big stage in the Munich Arena would probably be the perfect place to change that.
“Here is Bavaria”: The BR24 newsletter informs you every Monday to Friday at the end of the day about the most important things of the day at a glance – compact and directly in your private inbox. Click here to register!
Source: BR24Sport
October 13, 2023 – 6:30 p.m
