VfL Wolfsburg 1-3 Bayern Munich
By Catherine MacKenzie (11/10/25)
Above: Bayern Munich women celebrate their win. Photo: FCBfrauen on X.
The clash between Bayern Munich and VfL Wolfsburg is one of the biggest fixtures in German women’s football, often seen as the defining matchup in the Frauen-Bundesliga title race.
Last season was no exception: whilst Bayern achieved their third consecutive title, Wolfsburg were not far behind in second. The title of dominant force in German women’s football has passed between the two clubs for a decade, and their matches are often filled with drama.
Context
This weekend’s game formed the sixth week of Frauen-Bundesliga action, with Wolfsburg and Bayern competing for the top spot. Wolfsburg came into the weekend in good form after beating French giants PSG 4-0 in the Champions League (UWCL) midweek.
Whilst the Wolves were enjoying their first UWCL game of the season, the Bavarian team were being dismantled at the hands of FC Barcelona, ultimately falling to a humiliating 7-1 loss. How well Bayern recover from that blow will be crucial to their hopes of maintaining momentum in the title race and not losing ground, which had to start with picking up points in Wolfsburg.
The teams
Bayern were forced into a number of changes due to injuries and minutes-management. Usual starter Sarah Zadrazil suffered an ACL injury last month, and Lena Oberdorf was still regaining match sharpness after recovering from her own ACL injury. Veteran left-back Caro Simon was withdrawn against Barcelona after picking up a serious knee injury, and is expected to be unavailable for a while. Whilst warming up, the team wore shirts designed in tribute to Zadrazil.
The back line saw the most changes from the team that faced Barcelona, with Giulia Gwinn returning – this saw Franzi Kett shift to left-back. Captain Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir also returned at right-sided center-back, with Magdalena Eriksson dropping to the bench.
For Wolfsburg, Sarai Linder came in for Dutch defender Caitlin Dijkstra, and Justine Kielland for Ella Peddemors.
The action
Both teams started brightly, with the action end-to-end for the opening few minutes. The first major chance of the game was for the visitors as Klara Bühl’s cross met the head of Momoko Tanikawa. The Japanese international’s header went wide of goal, spurring the home side to have a chance of their own as Alexandra Popp got her head to a Cora Zicai cross, but the effort also went wide.
There were further attempts from both sides: Georgia Stanway had a shot from distance, and Janou Levels from close range, but nothing hit the target until Bühl evaded Svenja Huth and shot straight into the bottom left corner from the edge of the box. With 27 minutes on the clock, Bayern had the opener, regaining some confidence and perhaps laying some Catalan ghosts to rest.
Wolfsburg struggled to recover and for the remainder of the half, the visitors had the momentum, with a number of attempts from Pernille Harder missing the target. The equaliser did eventually come, shortly after half-time as Bayern failed to clear a corner. The corner was well taken, with the initial save spilled by shot-stopper Ena Mahmutovic – the visitors failed to clear the ball before it landed at the feet of Janina Ming, who shot home via a deflection.
The rivals vied for possession as the game became increasingly physical, with Viggósdóttir electing to bypass the midfield by going long. Her pass was perfectly weighted for Gulia Gwinn to cross into the box where Tanikawa was waiting – and this time her effort smashed into the center of the goal.
Once again going a goal down, Wolfsburg regained some of their energy and sought to reignite their press. They had a number of chances towards the end of normal time, with Lineth Beerensteyn forcing a strong block from Stine Pedersen in the box, and Ella Peddemors eliciting a save from Mahmutovic. There was a sense of desperation about the home side as the minutes ticked down, and Marie-Joelle Wedemeyer rushed into preventing Lea Schüller getting a shot off. Wedemeyer was shown a red card for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity – the resulting free kick giving the visitors their third goal to end the game.
The physical battle
When bitter rivals meet, it is always a tense encounter. Saturday’s match seemed even more so as Bayern sought to recover from their humiliation in Spain. The visitors were down, meeting a Wolfsburg on good form. For the Wolves, it was a chance to avenge their Supercup defeat from the beginning of the season, and a chance to prove that the battle for dominance is not over.
This encouraged a physical battle; the duels were flying, with a number of interruptions to play as the referee’s whistle was heard. There were 17 tackles in the second half alone – the bulk coming from the home side – eventually resulting in Wedemeyer’s red card. In a physical game like this, timing challenges well and strong decision-making is paramount – which lost Wolfsburg the game.
Bayern also returned to playing the occasional long-ball (after their high press and insistence on playing out from the back was a key factor in the Barcelona loss). The decisions from Gwinn to press high and Viggósdóttir to aim to bypass the midfield set up their second goal, with Wolfsburg leaving plenty of spaces on the flanks.
Where this leaves the teams
Bayern recovered from their Catalan disaster in style, beating their fiercest rivals away in emphatic fashion. Whilst Wolfsburg had a number of chances to win the game, the away side were simply more clinical. The Wolves will be disappointed with how they responded to setbacks throughout the game – from going a goal down to the red card and head coach Stephan Lurch’s yellow. They capitulated, with poor decision-making ultimately deciding the game.
Neither side have much time to recover. Bayern host Juventus in the UWCL on Thursday, and Wolfsburg have a trip to Vålerenga awaiting them. For now, Bayern top the Frauen-Bundesliga leaderboard, three points ahead.
TEAMS: WOLFSBURG (4-2-3-1): Johannes, Linder, Wedemeyer, Küver, Levels, Minge, Kielland, Huth, Popp, Zicai, Beerensteyn. Substitutes: Tufekovic, Bergsvand, Pujols, Dijkstra, Bjelde, Bussy, Sælen, Peddemors.
Scorer: Caruso 1-1 (48′, OG)
BAYERN MUNICH (4-2-3-1): Mahmutovic, Kett, Pedersen, Viggósdóttir, Gwinn, Stanway, Caruso, Bühl, Tanikawa, Dallmann, Harder. Substitutes: Grohs, Hansen, Eriksson, Naschenweng, Oberdorf, Alara, Schüller, Padilla.
Scorers: Bühl 0-1 (27′), Tanikawa 1-2 (57′), Alara 1-3 (90+5′)
Referee: TBC
Attendance: TBC
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