Bayern striker Lea Schüller gave her team a small advantage in the Champions League quarter-finals, scoring the winning goal (1-0) in the first leg on Tuesday night at the Allianz Arena in Munich. The return match is scheduled in eight days on the lawn of Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. The winner of this quarter-final will face in the semi-final the winner of the quarter between Wolfsburg and Paris SG. After about twenty minutes spent suffering from the London offensives, the Munich women gradually resurfaced, in particular thanks to their captain Lina Magull in midfield.
They logically opened the scoring in the 39th minute. At the start of the action for a mismatch for right-back Maximiliane Rall, Lea Schüller rose higher than Arsenal defender Laura Weinroother. Dominated in the second half, the Bavarians miraculously resisted, with a bit of luck with a shot on the post from Caitlin Foord, and thanks to two heroic defenses on the line by defender Saki Kumagai in the 61st minute and by Lea Schüller at the end. 70th minute, to keep the meager advantage.
On the counter, right-back Rall had a chance in the final ten minutes to double the score, but his shot was denied by Arsenal’s Austrian goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger. After playing in front of 24,000 spectators during the group stage against FC Barcelona in December, Magull’s teammates returned to the Allianz Arena on Tuesday evening, with 20,000 spectators.