New Delhi: In the second matchday of the 2024/25 Women’s Bundesliga, Eintracht Frankfurt battled to come back and cancel a two-goal deficit against hosts Bayer Leverkusen, with both teams perhaps pondering about missed chances, given they now sit two points beneath Bayern Munich at the top of the table.
Within a 10 minute spell in the first half, the hosts ran riot with goals coming from striker Caroline Kehrer and forward Kristin Kögel. Frankfurt winger Géraldine Reuteler halved the deficit in the dying minutes of the first half, before substitutes Nicole Anyomi and Remina Chiba combined impeccably, with the latter scoring the equalizer in the 57th minute.
The current season has been built up to hold great relevance and importance for Bayer Leverkusen, who’ve been tipped to take aim at the dominant force that is Bayern Munich, with boosts coming from a host of new signings. With their first victory being secured only after a 88th minute penalty against Freiburg, questions had been asked from Leverkusen, and none would have posed more trouble than Eintracht Frankfurt, who finished third in the league last season.
However, by the 30th minute mark, Leverkusen looked to have solidified their title credentials, coasting on a two-goal lead. The first of which came in the 14th minute, with Kögel finding the overlapping fullback Janou Levels on the left flank. Her low cross was fizzed towards the near post, with new signing and striker Caroline Kehrer somehow ghosting into space and converting from close range.
LEVERKUSEN, GERMANY – SEPTEMBER 15: Kristin Koegel of Bayer Leverkusen celebrates after scoring her team’s second goal on September 15, 2024 in Leverkusen, Germany. (Photo by Fabio Deinert/Getty Images for DFB)
Nearly ten minutes later, the visitors were staring down the barrel, when Caroline Kramer’s devilishly whipped free kick was met with a sublime, glancing header from Kögel, leaving Frankfurt keeper Stina Johannes dumbfounded as the ball nestled into her bottom-left corner.
With capitulation looming over the visitors, they were handed a saving grace, partly by their own mentality to regroup, and the hosts perhaps stretching their feet a bit too prematurely. Right on cue, Frankfurt seemed to have picked themselves up at the close to the end of the first half.
The first warning shot came in the 40th minute, when midfielder Barbara Dunst received a low cross in the Leverkusen box, with her tame shot caught by Friederike Abt. Some five minutes later, the Leverkusen keeper would hold the ball in her hands again, picking it out of the net when Reuteler flicked a whipped cross from Dunst into the back of the net.
With the battle for second place to be determined in just 45 minutes, the second half was charged with motivation and positive intentions, especially from Frankfurt, who continued to launch waves of pressure. The hosts were again forced into survival-mode, evident in the hosts losing the ball near their own box, only for the resultant through ball to escape any white shirt.
Then came the 54th minute, which could shape a plethora of discussions in the coming days. Leverkusen won a corner, with Kramer flicking the near-post delivery into forward Karolina Lea Vilhjálmsdottir, her volley lacking any real connection. The loose ball looped towards Kramer, who nudged the ball again into Vilhjálmsdottir’s path, who clattered into Frankfurt defender Pia-Sophie Wolter before heading the ball into Johannes’s gloves.
Leverkusen were incensed collectively, with their demands for a handball ignored by the referee and drowned by medics tending to Wolter. The replays, however, seemed to confirm Leverkusen’s complaints.
With Lady Fate still not content with the drama, it then decided that Frankfurt substitutes Anyomi and Chiba should add salt to Leverkusen’s injuries. In the 58th minute, Anyomi skipped past defender Selina Ostermeier, before fizzing in a low cross towards Chiba, who would almost replicate Kehrer’s opening goal with her finish from the near post.
⏱️ 90.+4: Nach 0:2-Rückstand nehmen wir einen Punkt mit aus Leverkusen.
––––––#SGE #EintrachtFrauen | #DieLiga #B04SGE | 2:2 pic.twitter.com/6MAqR0uB9q
— Eintracht Frankfurt Frauen (@EintrachtFrauen) September 15, 2024
Funnily, it seemed that scoring two goals came with a dose of stunted momentum, as Frankfurt failed to capitalise on their positivity and put Leverkusen to the sword, with the hosts focused solely on saving face, with the game reduced to a yellow-tinted, stop-start tempo.
With nearly 20 minutes left on the clock, Leverkusen managed to survive imminent danger, but Frankfurt still retained the offensive edge. Thrice they caught Leverkusen open at the back; once in the 71st minute, winning the ball high but too ponderous to fashion a dangerous chance.
The second chance was even more damning, as Frankfurt were indecisive yet again. Leverkusen gave the ball away in the 86th minute, allowing Frankfurt to counter against a helplessly outnumbered Leverkusen defence. It felt done-and-dusted when Chiba slipped a perfectly-weighted defence-splitting pass to skipper Laura Freigang, who only had the keeper to beat. Bizarrely, the forward chose to square the ball to Anyomi, who failed to sort her feet out, allowing the hosts to clear the ball and avert certain disaster.
Tensions were at a critical point in stoppage time, with Frankfurt winning a free-kick. The curved delivery caught the Leverkusen backline out, with Freigang again one-on-one with Abt, only for her outstretched leg a couple of meters away from a glorious winner. The full-time whistle made no delays in its introduction, with the camera duly cutting to Leverkusen players in furious discussion.
A breathtaking encounter between some of the Women’s Bundesliga’s very best! Find out all the details of an exciting back-and-forth affair on MD2! Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
