Women’s worldwide round-up: Wolfsburg remain unbeaten as Lyon continue to dominate the Feminine Division 1 and Barcelona beat Espanyol 4-0
As the German Frauen-Bundeslinga and French Feminine Division 1 head into their winter break, Martin Whiteley is back with all the European happenings across women’s football in Germany, France and Spain.
Unbeaten Wolfsburg in pole position going into winter break
Wolfsburg head into their winter break on 37 points after they made it 13 league games unbeaten with a 4-0 win at home to Duisburg.
The defeat for the visitors drops them into the relegation zone as they stay on seven points.
Second-place Hoffenheim remains three points behind the pacesetters as they made it 10 league games unbeaten — the last three wins — after a 1-0 success on the road against Cologne. Lena Lattwein with the only goal 12 minutes into the second half.
A key battle takes place straight away when the Frauen-Bundesliga returns to action in the middle of February as Hoffenheim host Wolfsburg. The only Hoffenheim loss this season was inflicted by the current leaders who gained a 3-0 success back in September.
For the second week in a row third in the table Bayern Munich played in the opening contest of the weekend.
In a see-sawing game, Bayern were able to claim a dramatic 3-2 victory away to Frankfurt. Having fallen behind early on, the visitors were able to take a 2-1 lead. The hosts got level, but Bayern was able to take all three points when Melanie Leupolz grabbed an 89th-minute winner.
The victory extended the winning run of the team from Bavaria to three games and their unbeaten streak to seven, as they moved onto 31 points.
Different story this time as Lyon stay unbeaten heading into their winter break
The only points Lyon has dropped this Feminine Division 1 season was back in October when they were held to a scoreless draw away to Dijon, and for a lot of the return game it looked like lightning might strike twice.
A thundering header from captain Wendie Renard — that went in off the post — finally saw Lyon score in the 75th-minute. Substitute Shanice van de Sanden added an insurance tally in stoppage time, as the champions made it 12 league games unbeaten to move to 34 points.
Lucy Bronze, Alex Greenwood, and Nikita Parris all started for the home side with Izzy Christiansen not making the matchday squad.
Although down in 10th place, the form of Dijon recently has been good with them unbeaten in their last seven outings before this reversal. The only problem for the Burgundy region side is that five of those games have been draws so they still only have 11 points.
Having shown indifferent form recently second-place PSG got back to winning ways away to Paris FC. The 3-0 success keeps PSG within five points of the leaders and also allows them to stay ahead of the sides immediately behind them in the standings.
Third in the table Bordeaux gained their fifth straight win to advance to 27 points after a 4-1 success away to second from bottom side Marseille.
Montpellier having little trouble on their travels getting the better of basement team Metz after a 3-0 win to stay one place and three points behind Bordeaux.
Top three in Spain all take maximum points
Barcelona stretched their unbeaten run to a dozen Primera DivisiĂłn Femenina games after a 4-0 victory away to Espanyol.
The success against their crosstown rivals was the leaders tenth straight league win and moved them onto 34 points. The loss for Espanyol sees them remain at the foot of the league table with just two points to their name.
After two consecutive draws Atletico Madrid got back to winning ways on their travels against UDG Tenerife. Missing the injured Toni Duggan, second in the table Atletico extended their unbeaten run to nine league games to stay five points adrift of the leaders after a 2-0 success.
Third-place Levante visited Valencia and left with a 1-0 success to register their fourth straight victory and move to 25 points. Eva Navarro netting the winner just before the half-hour mark.
Fourth in the table Deportivo de La Coruña advanced to 23 points after a 2-2 draw away to Madrid. Twice the visitors trailed, but a goal from Ainize Barea just past the hour-mark gained them a share of the spoils.
The point for the home side ended a run of three straight losses and moved them onto 11 points.
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