UEFA Women's Champions League: Bayern fight back to draw with Barcelona

Bayern Munich held Barcelona to a 1-1 draw in the Women's Champions League first leg quarter-final tie.

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Bayern Munich Frauen produced a far better performance than their earlier 7-1 defeat to Barcelona as they drew with the European giants in front of 31,000 spectators at the Allianz Arena.

After the 1-1 scoreline, next week’s return leg at Camp Nou will decide the team qualifying for the Women's Champions League final in Oslo. Franziska Kett was the hero for Bayern before seeing a red card for pulling Salma Paralluelo’s hair ten minutes before the time.

Bayern started the game with lots of energy, but they were caught by one excellent piece of play in the eighth minute. Esmee Brugts gets behind Giulia Gwinn before setting Ewa Pajor’s eighth goal of the competition.

The Polish star is now level on the scoring chart with Arsenal’s Alessio Russo. Kett had Bayern’s best chance of the half before her goal after the break. Cata Coll made a superb save to deny the fullback with the earlier opportunity, but Kett found the back of the net with a well-worked move by Bayern in the 69th minute.

The incident between Kett and Paralluelo – which was reminiscent of Katie McCabe escaping punishment for doing the same to Alyssa Thompson in the quarter-final between Arsenal and Chelsea – also saw Bayern’s coach José Bordalás sent off for a straight red card.

Bayern were under immense pressure for the rest of the game, but they held on for the draw before next week’s decider. Paralluelo failed to hit the target inside a crowded box with the last chance of the game.