With a largely sovereign performance in the second leg, the women of FC Bayern Munich easily reached the Champions League main round on Wednesday evening. The team of coach Alexander Straus defeated Real Sociedad 3: 1 (3: 1), the first leg in Spain had already won the Bundesliga runners-up last season 1: 0.
The game in FC Bayern’s campus stadium seemed decided early on after Linda Dallmann converted the oppressive superiority of the early stages into two goals (18′, 23′). Lea Schüller was even able to add her 50th goal in the Bayern dress in the 43rd minute, but the guests from the Basque Country came up with a surprising goal through Synne Jensen (45th) before the break whistle – and had a few chances after the break to make the game exciting again.
But the 1,652 spectators, including Bayern President Herbert Hainer, experienced a comparatively poor second half afterwards. The Munich women were the only German team to play the intermediate round in the premier class after Frankfurt were eliminated at the start. As German champions, VfL Wolfsburg is set for the lucrative group games. The draw for the group stage will take place in Nyon next Monday, starting a good two weeks later. Last season, the Bayern women failed in the quarter-finals at Paris Saint-Germain.
The 28-year-old Dallmann shone as a substitute for the sick captain Lina Magull. The 1:0 prepared as well as the 3:0 Sydney Lohmann. Synne Jensen reduced the deficit to 1:3 for the Spaniards shortly after the break, but the strong players from Munich were clearly superior. Substitute Emelyne Laurent missed another chance to score (74′). San Sebastián finished second in last season’s Spanish title fight behind FC Barcelona, who in turn lost the Champions League final to Olympique Lyon.
