I’m sorry, what? “It’s not bumpy this year? It’s good,” says Alexander Straus. His answer to the question of why the start of the season is going better than last year is revealing: The coach of the BFayern Munich footballers still sees a lot of construction sites, but then he lets it through: “We looked good when we had to. We’re growing. We’re on the right track.”
Good timing. On Wednesday, the Bayern women start the Women’s Champions League against AS Roma (6.45 p.m., Campus Stadium, live on Dazn), and a big difference from last year is that this time the start was already fixed in the calendar. In 2022, two nerve-wracking qualifying games were initially necessary, so the club had to plan the squad in two ways.
This time, however: a firmly planned double load, resulting in a broad squad that can be assessed as stronger than that of the previous season. In addition, a coach who has already been trained for a good year, no long-term complete failures like Giulia Gwinn at the time – and first place in the Bundesliga, having already defeated VfL Wolfsburg once.
In short: the shoulders are wider, but they now have to carry a little more load. On the one hand, the German focus is now clearly on Bayern because, as Straus himself says, “some big names are already out there.” Wolfsburg made a mistake in qualifying, which just shows how thin the thread in qualifying can be. Secondly, Straus knows: Preliminary group C is so strong with Bayern, Rome, Ajax Amsterdam and Paris Saint-Germain that the German champions could not qualify, but could well be eliminated after the preliminary round.
“We were the only ones who beat Barcelona,” recalls Georgia Stanway
It was just right for Straus that a Bundesliga team was visiting Munich last Sunday, which allowed for a bit of personnel rotation. The 2-0 win against MSV Duisburg was a bit lackluster, the redeeming second goal only came in the 72nd minute with a penalty kick. However, the home fans expect a completely different game against Rome, a much more offensive opponent. Coach Allesandro Spugna’s team scored 29 goals in the first seven league games. “They’ve scored a lot of goals, but they haven’t played against us yet,” says Straus, who still has respect for the opponent. The new captain Glodis Viggosdottir assumes that there will be a lot of close games in the preliminary round. And notes: “If you want to win the Champions League, then you have to beat the best anyway.”
Of course, Bayern wouldn’t mind at all if they won the Champions League in the current season. It has been clear for some time that the team is on the good path mentioned by Straus. “We are the only ones who beat Barcelona,” recalls Georgia Stanway of the preliminary round game in the Arena (3-1), which was memorable in every respect. But the Englishwoman also refers to the elimination in London at the end of March: “At that point Arsenal were simply better.”
The potential is there, it is even growing. Group C will be a good indicator of what the team is capable of. But the long-term goal is more important: the expensive squad should gradually mature into a top European team and establish itself as such. On Tuesday, Straus explained again what his biggest goal was: “When I leave the club, I want this club to be in a stronger position than when I arrived.”
He briefly talked about the upcoming reform of the Champions League. It is important that outsiders have the chance to take part, but on the other hand there is already a lack of driving forces. The consequence would be nothing other than an increase in competition. This would have the advantage for Bayern that two German teams would almost certainly be represented permanently – and so that their major national rivals would not be in a position to concentrate solely on the championship.
