Bayern women extend perfect start with Freiburg rout
Bayern Munich women saw off Freiburg at home 4-1 in the Frauen-Bundesliga on Saturday. The result keeps the hosts unbeaten after three matches, while Freiburg drop further down the table. Bayern go into the next round four points clear of third place.
Momoko Tanikawa opened the scoring in the 18th minute and added a second at the death. Vanessa Gilles made it two before the break with a well-taken goal in the 42nd. Freiburg pulled one back through Luca Emily Birkholz in the 64th, but Klara Buhl restored the two-goal cushion before Tanikawa sealed it at 90-plus one.
Bayern dominated possession at 59 per cent and registered 15 shots on target compared to six for the visitors. Freiburg were more clinical with their chances, hitting 86 per cent accuracy, but simply didn't have enough to trouble the Bayern defence beyond the period around the hour mark. The hosts completed 488 passes against 292 from the away side.
Freiburg made five changes while Bayern brought on Pernille Harder and Sophie Proost in the second half. The away side also swapped Birkholz and Ojukwu together in the 74th minute, a move that coincided with a yellow card for Bernadette Amani Kakounan. By then Bayern were already comfortable with a two-goal lead.
The hosts have kept three clean sheets on the spin and sit top of the attacking charts with 100 attacks recorded. Freiburg's goalkeeper made 11 saves, twice as many as her Bayern counterpart, which tells you something about where the pressure lay. Things came to a head in the final ten minutes when both sides threw bodies forward.
Bayern move to within two points of the leaders after three rounds. Freiburg remain in the bottom half with four points from three games and have dropped to eighth. The gap between the two sides in the table now stands at five points.
