Change of leadership on the 16th matchday of the women’s Bundesliga: The outstanding international goalkeeper Merle Frohms kept VfL Wolfsburg in the game for a long time on Saturday (March 25, 2023) – then Georgia Stanway shot the Bayern women to a 1-0 win – and that was it the top of the table.
And that was well deserved. It was obvious from the first second that the Bavarians wanted to seize every opportunity to gain a potentially crucial advantage in the fight for the title.
They started much more actively, dominated the midfield and had two good finishes in the first quarter of an hour. Nothing came from the “wolves” for 25 minutes. Passive, unimaginative and without any esprit, they endured the attack waves of the hosts.
Neither Alexandra Popp nor Ewa Pajor nor Swenja Huth took an active part in the offensive game, the first goal approach came from defender Lena Oberdorf in the 27th minute – with a header after a set piece, but two meters too high.
The Bavarians aimed better shortly afterwards, but Merle Frohms prevented them from falling behind again: with a world-class reflex, she spectacularly deflected a powerful header from Sydney Lohmann to the bottom edge of the bar, the ball would still have gone into the goal through the effet – but Dominique Jansen scratched it centimeters before impact from the line.
Again and again, but once too little: Merle Frohms (VfL Wolfsburg, right) holds the ball
Big emotions at Magull and Oberdorf
Just before the half-time whistle, the fans on the Bayern campus were able to marvel at just how much was at stake in this game and how frustration had slowly built up on both sides: Lina Magull and Lena Oberdorf initially committed two hard fouls in the area of the halfway line.
The subsequent pushing of Magull at Oberdorf was almost an assault. The very attentive and sovereign leading referee Fabienne Michel let both get away with yellow, which was also absolutely justifiable.
Bayern’s Glódís Viggósdóttir im Glück
In the second half, the Wolfsburg women became a little more active and had a great opportunity to take the lead through Popp. After Huth’s right cross, she pointed the ball just over the Bayern goal (57th minute).
In the 73rd minute, the Bayern fans had to endure a moment of shock. Defender Glódís Viggósdóttir rammed the rushing Felicitas Rauch in her own penalty area, the referee recognized the arm with a lot of benevolence and decided against the penalty whistle.
Stanway scores from the penalty spot for Bayern
FC Bayern’s constant running up paid off. In the 84th minute, Lena Lattwein stopped a Viggósdóttir shot in the penalty area with her hand, and then even Frohms was powerless to stop Stanway’s penalty.
Wolfsburg star Alexandra Popp admitted on the sports show microphone: “The disappointment is of course very big because we had planned something else. We missed the first 45 minutes, then we did better in the second half. When it comes to penalties, the ball comes to hand from a meter away – I don’t know what Lena should have done.”
Lina Magull was happy on ARD: “I’m really happy that we’ve beaten Wolfsburg again. We deserve it. But it’s still a lot of work to win the title.”