Despite a brave performance Hibernian Ladies were unable to prevent their more illustrious opponents Bayern Munich from running out comfortable winners last night in the historic UEFA Women’s Champions League fixture.
The club opened the lower tier of the West Stand and a crowd of 2551 watched the encounter, including Scotland Under 19 coach Gareth Evans, former Hibernian Ladies manager Willie Kirk and striker James Keatings.
The Germans also brought a small but noisy contingent to the capital.
Hibernian started brightly with a fantastic piece of skill form Lizzie Arnot on the left wing however Bayern quickly found their rhythm and opened the scoring in the 4th minute Stefanie van der Gragt headed in from a Verena Faisst corner kick.
From then on the German team dominated possession and produced wave after wave of attacks but the Hibernian players defended stoutly and did have the occasional foray upfield and Rachael McLauchlan sent over a dangerous cross which just eluded Abi Harrison.
The elegant Arnot then ran 50 yards with the ball before her long-range strike produced a good save from Tinja-Rikka Korpela in the Bayern goal.
Korpela spent the majority of the game playing in a sweeper role between her own penalty box and the half way line.
The Germans added a second in the 26th minute when Nera Berge Holstad fired a powerful strike past Jenna Fife from 12 yards.
Ten minutes later Vivianne Leupolz made it 3-0 with a well taken near post header to give the visitors a well deserved half time lead.
Former Glasgow City player Lisa Evans set up Bayern’s fourth when her cross was diverted into the net by Melanie Miedema before Melanie Leupolz made it 5-0 with a close range effort after the Hibernian defenders were unable to clear their lines.
Behringer completed the scoring by sending Fife the wrong way with a penalty kick but the action didn’t stop there.
Fife produced excellent saves to deny substitutes Anna Gerhardt and Rolser who later missed Bayern’s second spot kick off the night when her effort struck the crossbar.
The pair meet again in Germany next Wednesday.
The Hibernian team can hold their heads up high after a spirited performance against a full-time German team containing many internationals who were physically stronger in every position.
Hibernian Ladies: Fife, Williamson (Brownlie 81’), Hunter, Robertson, Arnot, Smith, McLauchlan, Graham, Murray, Cornet (Small 68’), Harrison (Ewens 68’). Substitutes not used: Jeffries, Michie, Heron, Notley.
FC Bayern Munich: Korpela, Lewandowski, van der Gragt, Behringer, Leupolz, Miedema (Rolser 64’), Holstad, Evans, Faisst (Gerhardt 64’), Schnaderbeck, Dabritz (Falknor 75’). Substitutes not used: Zinsberger, Abbe, Wenniger, Maier.
Referee: Esther Staubli (SUI).
Attendance: 2,551.
Photographs by John Preece
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
