Women's Champions League semi-final first-leg report: Bayern München 1-1 Barcelona

Bayern München came from behind and survived being reduced to ten players to draw 1-1 with Barcelona in their UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final first leg.

Ewa Pajor's eighth goal of the campaign gave Barcelona an early lead at Fußball Arena München and the visitors could have had a second when Esmee Brugts hit a post just after the break. Instead, Bayern levelled on 69 minutes through Franziska Kett, who was later sent off, though her side held on to leave the tie level ahead of the return next Sunday at the Camp Nou.

Match in brief: Bayern recover from early blow

Both these teams were fresh from retaining their domestic league titles on Wednesday, and Bayern – beaten 7-1 at Barcelona on Matchday 1 – began brightly, with Pernille Harder threatening twice. With less than eight minutes gone, however, it was Barcelona who struck the opener, Patri Guijarro setting Esmee Brugts clear on the left to send in a low centre which was turned in by Ewa Pajor.

Barcelona now began to keep Bayern at arm's length, though the home side did end the half strongly. Franziska Kett pushed forward and let fly from the edge of the box, forcing Cata Coll to pull off a fine save.

Bayern looked to maintain that momentum after the break, yet they were nearly caught out when Brugts unleashed a shot, with the ball rebounding away off the post and the back of home keeper Ena Mahmutovic. Clàudia Pina then got on the end of a Mapi León corner, only for her header to be cleared off the line by Vanessa Gilles.

However, Bayern's endeavour paid off with 21 minutes to go as Harder ran inside from the left and played the ball across for Kett to produce an emphatic finish. Ten minutes later, the scorer was sent off for a foul on substitute Salma Paralluelo, and Barcelona duly went all out to claim a lead to defend at the Camp Nou – to no avail, with Patri Guijarro having an overhead kick blocked, Mahmutovic tipping away a Mapi León strike and Salma Paralluelo shooting over.

Vodafone Player of the Match: Klara Bühl (Bayern)

Klara Bühl with her Player of the Match awardUEFA via Getty Images

"Bühl played a key role in Bayern's attacking and transitional play. With her strong one-on-one ability, she was repeatedly able to make an impact and provide relief for her team. She was also involved in the build-up to the equaliser and played a significant defensive role too."
UEFA Technical Observer Group

Judith Tuffentsammer, match reporter

After falling behind early, Bayern battled to get back into this tie and finally pulled level midway through the second half, setting up an intense final few minutes of the game – and an exciting return leg in Barcelona next week, when it'll still be all to play for to get to the final in Oslo.

Reaction

José Barcala, Bayern coach: "I'm so proud of the team, the players. It's a clear evolution from the first game to what we saw today. We had a clear game plan, which you could see, and our capacity to grow throughout the 90 minutes. I'm very proud of the team, but we are Bayern, we want to win, so I'm not happy with the result."

Pere Romeu, Barcelona coach: "In the first half, we avoided their counterattacks as best we could, and we had a tough time in the final stretch, and yet we didn't concede. And, on the contrary, in the second half the opposite happened: when we were playing our best, they equalised.

"We kept pushing until the very end, which I'm very proud of. But, in the final attacks, when we had the upper hand, we lacked composure. If the opponent gives you space, you have to take advantage of it, because today our opponents didn't give us any."

Glódís Viggósdóttir, Bayern captain: "I think in general we defended our goal pretty well. We followed the game plan, we closed the spaces that we wanted to close and then we wanted to get them on the counter, and obviously it's a fantastic goal from start to finish. I'm just incredibly proud of how we handled every single situation today."

Klara Bühl, Player of the Match: "It's kind of mixed feelings. We didn't start well. Barcelona scored early, but that was fine. We were patient, we were disciplined and defended a lot. We knew it'd be like that, and we just kept going. At the end, we scored a goal and we believe in our chance."

"In the first half, we struggled a bit to get out of the high press from Barcelona. They're unbelievable in this. The first five or six seconds, they're great. Just press the ball and regain it back. In the second half, we took one or two touches, and that's why we got out and had the chance."

Ewa Pajor, Barcelona forward: "We played our game from the start, controlled the game and just gave everything. We have so much quality in our team and we know that if we play our game, like we also did today – and, sure, Bayern did well too – we know that we will make it to the final."

Alexia Putellas, Barcelona captain: "We knew this game would be different [from the 7-1 win in the league phase]. As you've seen, we were right. The first half was different from the second half. In the end, they were in a medium block; we waited for more space in the middle. We have to adapt our game. We should've scored one more goal in the second half. Now let's go to the Camp Nou."

Key stats

• Pajor has moved level with Alessia Russo as top scorer in this season's Women's Champions League on eight goals and is also now in the all-time top ten, tied with Alex Popp on 41 for her career overall.
• Kett scored her first Women's Champions League goal on her 22nd competition appearance.
• Bayern are now 28 games unbeaten in all competitions since their loss at Barcelona on 7 October.
• Barcelona are extending their record sequence of consecutive Women's Champions League semi-finals to eight (and are aiming to reach an unprecedented sixth straight decider).
• The crowd of 31,000 was Bayern's home record in this competition (beating the 25,000 in attendance for the visit of Manchester United in the quarter-finals).

The 31,000 crowd at Fußball Arena München was Bayern's European home recordUEFA via Getty Images

Line-ups

Bayern: Mahmutovic; Gwinn, Viggósdóttir, Gilles, Kett; Kakounan, Stanway; Dallmann (Ballisager 81), Tanikawa, Bühl (Caruso 74); Harder (Imade 90+4)

Barcelona: Cata Coll; Ona Batlle, Irene Paredes, Mapi León, Brugts; Vicky López (Serrajordi 62), Patri Guijarro, Alexia Putellas; Graham Hansen (Salma Paralluelo 73), Pajor, Clàudia Pina (Kika Nazareth 73)