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Bayern in contention for Women's Champions League

Jasmina Schweimler
December 16, 2020

In this week's Women's Champions League talking points, we look at how Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg managed with their ties and ponder why women's football remains so inaccessible.

Carina Wenninger chases down Lucie Vonkova
Bayern Munich played Ajax in misty conditionsImage: Sven Leifer/imago images

1. Bayern Munich are ready for more

An aggregate score of 6-1 against Ajax — Bayern Munich are ready for more! The Dutch team wasn't one of the easier tasks in the round of the 32, but Jens Scheuer's team were clear winners in both games.

After the 3-1 victory in the first leg last week, the visitors still had a sliver of hope but Lineth Beerensteyn's goal after only 28 seconds on Wednesday evening made it a done deal for Bayern.

Considering they are still unbeaten in the Women's Bundesliga,  their confidence and self-belief is evident in every game they play. Their squad depth is also showing, because whenever they make a switch during the game the quality doesn't drop.

The Germans are currently 14 games unbeaten in all competitions, and it doesn't seem like anyone can stop them right now. If they keep up the good work next year too, they are definitely going to be among the favorites for this season's Champions League title.

2. Rotation is fine

After Wolfsburg's 5-0 win in the first leg against Serbian side Spartak Subotica, the second leg was far from as clear. It took the Germans over an hour to take the lead, and it came after their visitors had more chances in the first half.

One explanation would be the different names on Wolfsburg's team sheet. Head coahc Stephan Lerch rotated Anna Blässe, Sara Doorsoun, Shanice van de Sanden and 19-year-old talent Lotta Cordes into the squad, with latter making her starting debut.

Dominique Janssen, who ususually plays as center back, played in defensive midfield while Felicitas Rauch, who is a left back, switched into a more offensive role.

It has been a long year for Wolfsburg, who were competing in last season's Champions League tournament at the end of August. Combined with the injury misfortune they've had in the past, rotation made sense in this one.

Wolfsburg got the better of Spartak SuboticaImage: T. Herzberg/Sports Press Photo/imago images

3. Women's football only second best again

Free to air German television channel "Sport1" provided simulcast coverage of the German games.

There doesn't need to be a discussion about how important television presence is for women's football in general, but Germany's coverage seems to keep stagnating.

As is often the case, the channel announced on the day of the game that they were only going to show one half live on television and the other was going to be streamed on their website. Why? Because the game collided with the Darts World Championship.

Admittedly, they did try to make up for it by later providing an hour long highlight show, and thankfully both German clubs provided livestreams of their games on their YouTube channels, but way too often women's football is deemed second best.