Lea Schüller (above) asserted herself powerfully with her head in the first half and scored the golden goal of the evening.
Photo: imago/Sven Simon
Most of the 20,000 spectators in the Munich football arena rose from their seats in the 79th minute and applauded. The heroine of this game between the women of FC Bayern Munich and Arsenal London limped off the field, Lea Schüller was injured in a duel with Lia Wälti and was replaced by Jovana Damnjanovic. Schüller also clapped in the direction of the fans, the center forward had made a remarkable game. The 25-year-old scored the 1-0 winner in the first half of the Champions League quarter-finals, and in the second half, when Arsenal put a lot of pressure on, the international also showed her defensive qualities and made two saves on her own goal line. “It’s always nice to play in front of a crowd like this. Such a great atmosphere definitely pushes you. It’s just a nice experience,” said Schüller, visibly grateful after the final whistle.
The striker has always scored many goals, but she still had a reputation for not scoring in important games. She therefore described her goal in the 3-1 win against FC Barcelona in the group game of the queens class in December as a “little liberation”. With the headed goal against Arsenal, the knot could finally have burst. Schüller had two more good chances, a shot just before half-time missed the goal by just centimeters.
She never got a grip on Arsenal’s defense, but above all Schüller showed her qualities in the game against the ball, where she believes she has improved significantly this season. “Since I’ve been here, she’s become a different player, a more complete player,” said coach Alexander Straus, who has been coaching Bayern Munich’s women since last summer, praising his centre-forward’s development. Germany’s footballer of the year 2022 now has more ball contacts, takes part in the game more often and would always hit her teammates, the Norwegian explained. “I think she has the potential to be one of the best players in the world in her position,” Straus said.
The Munich fans should therefore have breathed a sigh of relief when sports director Bianca Rech cautiously gave the all-clear immediately after the game. ‘I don’t think it’s as serious as it might have looked. We hope that we can get them fit in the next few days,” said Rech about Schüller’s injury. Georgia Stanway, who had to leave the pitch in injury time, does not appear to have been seriously injured according to initial assessments. The two top performers should therefore get fit for the top game against VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday (5.55 p.m.), which will be decisive for winning the championship.
After the Wolves surprisingly lost to Hoffenheim at the beginning of March, FC Bayern are only two points behind VfL. The unexpected chance of still being able to win the championship on their own inspires the team. “We are always on an equal footing with Wolfsburg,” said midfielder Sydney Lohmann on Tuesday evening: “Wolfsburg went haywire and now maybe have a small psychological disadvantage.”
Bavarian President Herbert Hainer also thought “the momentum is on our side”. Overall, he was satisfied with the way the FCB women’s third game went in the large arena, which is usually only used by men. Although the record of 24,000 fans set in December’s win against FC Barcelona was missed, the hype surrounding the country’s women footballers continues. 20,000 spectators on a Tuesday evening and games in the big arena in general would have been unimaginable a few years ago. “The fans stood behind the team as one,” Hainer said happily.
The mood in the team was good after the narrow win against Arsenal, but not euphoric. Everyone is aware that nothing has been achieved before the duel with Wolfsburg and the second leg in London on Wednesday (9 p.m.). And that to achieve their goals they need to play better than they did against Arsenal in the second half. “We now want to build on the performance of the first half in London. In the second we sometimes begged for a goal. We have to score a goal again quickly in order to have some air at the back,” said match winner Lea Schüller.
