In the end it was an “egg goal”. National player Sydney Lohmann found this name for the goal conceded in the 88th minute, which hit FC Bayern hard. And which closed the curtain on Munich’s 2023/24 Champions League campaign – much earlier than planned, expected and accepted at the first moment for coaches and players.
An “egg goal” that looks beyond the Bavarian horizon and fits into the image that German women’s football is currently portraying internationally. After the national team, which, according to the World Cup fiasco, was only able to maintain their chance of an Olympic qualification, the German club teams are not up to date this season.
For the first time since the introduction of the Champions League 2009, no Bundesliga team is in the top eight: last year’s final participant VfL Wolfsburg had surprisingly failed in qualification; Newcomer Eintracht Frankfurt presented itself neatly when the jump in the group phase for the first time, but nothing more; Bayern’s hopes were dashed late on Tuesday evening with the 2-2 draw against Paris St. Germain via an “egg goal”.
Attack, not just keep up
Amalie Vangsgaard, the Danish attacker in PSG services, had released a harmlessly-looking shot, but who found a path past many legs in the penalty area and received a decisive change of direction in the direction of his own goal from the Munich-based Georgia Stanway.
The commitment of the top English player last season and by the two star players Pernille Harder and Magdalena Eriksson (missing since mid -December with a breakdown) before this round were investments that should be illustrated in the European Cup and spirit of optimism.
The Bavarian motto was to attack and not just keep pace. The major transfers – all three players came from the English Women’s Super League, which was already economically behind – were seen as a symbol of the Bundesliga’s existing appeal.
All the greater the Munich frustration that in winter only the concentration on the championship and DFB Cup victory remains in the usual permanent duel with the Wolfsburg women. If the Munich team had maintained a 2-1 lead over time, they would have finished first in by far the strongest Group C. After just one win from six games Paris and Ajax Amsterdam, they had to let the draw go ahead. FCB had also only achieved two draws against the group last AS Rome.
“It’s brutal”
Coach Alexander Straus was visibly emotional after the bitter setback. “The players deserved so much more. I don’t know what to say. It’s brutal, it’s sad,” said the Norwegian, who last season, his first on the Bayern campus, made his contribution to winning the German championship title in the league and reaching the quarter-finals in the Champions League (lost against Arsenal London ). Now Straus is responsible for an FCB team that has not penetrated the last eight in the queen class for the first time since 2018.
The problem for Munich was that on the previous matchdays they even wanted a group final against the top French team. It was within the realm of possibility that a Bavarian performance of “top, top, top level” (Straus) could not be enough given the strong level that the two teams achieved in front of 4,000 spectators, keeping the pace high.
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After thirty sluggish minutes, the Munich team got up to speed, took the lead through Giulia Gwinn’s arcing header (36th minute) and had a quick answer to Paris’ equalizer from Tabitha Chawinga (73rd) with Lohmann’s goal (75th). . Before the “egg gate”. “We put so much energy into it,” said national player Gwinn. “It was one of our best games in a long time.” One that will have an impact for a long time.