by The Swiss team booked a place in Round 2 of the UEFA Women’s Champions League by 3-1, thanks to goals by Seraina Piubel, Vanessa Bernauer and Viktoria Pinther. Francesca Chircop reduced the deficit at the dying moments for Birkirkara. Jose Borg and Jacqueline Duenker provided their assessment, while Francesca Chircop and Ann-Marie Said weighed in on the match.
Line-Ups
As hinted in the pre-match press-conference on Friday, Zurich’s Jacqueline Duenker fielded an unchanged first eleven from the team that opened the domestic league with two strong victories. Noemi Benz started in goal, protected by a back four of Marion Rey, Diane Caldwell, Oliwia Wos and Naomi Megroz. Amelie Schuster partnered Seraina Piubel in midfield, with Viktoria Pinther taking a more advanced role. Alayah Pilgrim and Leela Egli provided the width in attack, while captain Fabienne Humm led the line.
Birkirkara’s Jose Borg retained Janice Xuereb in goal, and an-unchanged defensive line of Valentina Rapa, captain Stephania Farrugia, Charlene Zammit and Ann-Marie Said. Similarly, Gabriella Zahra continued to partner Caitlin Rogers in front of the defence. Raina Giusti started on the left wing, while Marta Grosso was pushed deeper as an attacking midfielder. Following the impact on Wednesday, Arianna Del Moral and Edith Garcia Falero were bumped into the starting eleven, occupying the right wing role and centre of attack, respectively.
Penalty Shout & Breakthrough Goal
The teams assessed each other for the first minutes, with Birkirkara working on maintaining a compact defensive shape, thus setting the onus Zurich to find the opening goal. The Swiss built a number of opportunities in the final third, with Leela Egli, Alayah Pilgrim and Viktoria Pinther all getting close to the net. Pinther came closest as she ran free behind the defence, but her placed shot was denied by Janice Xuereb.
Having thwarted the initial attacks, Birkirkara made up ground toward the twentieth minute, with Marta Grosso doing well to win a free-kick in midfield allowing the Stripes to push up. A well-worked throw-in saw Arianne Del Moral almost tee up Edith Garcia Falero once more, but her shot was blocked by the Diane Caldwell, as was Marta Grosso’s attempt at a rebound. The team found confidence to build from the back, Charlene Zammit fed the ball into Raina Giusti, whose touch toward Caitlin Rogers allowed the team to open to Arianna Del Moral. However, Zurich’s defence shut the door.
The Swiss team sprang into attacking action once more. However, they could not capitalise on their set-pieces, and Fabienne Humm’s attempt to get space in the box to unleash a strike was denied by the defence.
Having settled into a more even rhythm toward the half-hour mark, Birkirkara’s Gabriella Zahra showed good strength in midfield to retain possession before opening to the wing toward Del Moral. Valentina Rapa drove forward in support and delivered a low ball into Garcia Falero whose touch laid the ball for a first-time strike for Giusti. However, Zurich denied the goal once more.
Commotion followed shortly after as Ann-Marie Said delivered a deep free-kick toward Marta Grosso who made a run toward the near post. Zurich managed to clear their lines amid heavy calls for a penalty by the Birkirkara players who claimed the ball was handled in the box by the Zurich contingent. However, the referee denied the claim and waved for the game to continue.
The denied penalty appeared to weigh on the locals, with some switching off in the following minutes which saw Zurich flood forward and unleash a number of shots. Though Janice Xuereb and Stephania Farrugia combined twice to deny first and rebound shots from Pilgrim and Pinther, the deadlock was not retained for much longer. The thirty-fourth minute saw Seraina Piubel connect with Alayah Pilgrim’s cut-back to convert into the bottom right corner.
Jose Borg opted to substitute Raina Giusti shortly after, with Mariah Cardona taking her place in a straight swap. Meanwhile, having gotten the opening goal, Zurich kept creating chances until the half-time whistle, with Leela Egli coming closest from distance but being denied by the crossbar.
Half-Time Score: FC Zurich Women 1 – 0 Birkirkara FC
Bernauer Impact
Jacqueline Duenker made a single change at the break, bringing on Vanessa Bernauer in replacement of Amelie Schuster in the centre of the park. It did not take her long to make her mark on the match as she doubled Zurich’s lead in the fifty-third minute. Bernauer got on the wrong side of Valentina Rapa, before connecting with a headed lay-off from Humm, and striking with the laces for the finish.
The early second-half goal appeared to deflate the Stripes for a few moments, but they shortly recovered with Marta Grosso maintaining the fight and once more doing well to win a free-kick in midfield to alleviate pressure. Jose Borg removed Mariah Cardona shortly after, bringing on Veronique Mifsud in a straight swap.
The sixty-six minute saw Valentina Rapa launch toward the Italian who made the run behind the defence, but Wos and Caldwell did just enough to close her attempt on goal. The ricochet almost let Garcia Falero in, but Benz was quick off her line to collect. A chance for a counter developed a few minutes later, but a delayed release from Del Moral, saw Garcia Falero halted by the offside flag. The Uruguayan struck from distance a few minutes later but there was not enough dip to find the back of the net.
Pinther Finds The Third
Zurich were happy to rotate the ball in search of opening spaces in the Birkirkara defence. A ball flashed across the face of goal was not attacked, while Fabienne Humm’s strike in the seventy-fifth minute skimmed the roof of the net.
However, they did not have to wait for long for their third. Naomi Megroz won a free-kick on the left-wing, with Bernauer taking the responsibility of putting the ball into the box. A header at the far post was saved by Janice Xuereb, but the clearance was not well dealt with, finding Viktoria Pinther unmarked at the edge of the box. She struck a left boot and sent the ball straight into the top corner.
Chircop Reduces Deficit For Birkirkara
A number of substitutions followed for both sides in the final ten minutes. Martina Fenech came on for Arianna Del Moral in a like for like change. Meanwhile, Gabriella Zahra gave way to Francesca Chircop, who slotted on the left-wing while Veronique Mifsud was pushed in Zahra’s position. Zurich refreshed the front line, taking off Viktoria Pinther, Leela Egli and Alayah Pilgrim, who were replaced by Romy Baraniak, Monika Ibishaj and Chiara Bucher, respectively in like for like changes.
Although Bucher almost got behind the defensive line, it was Birkirkara who upped the ante in the final throes of the match. Ann-Marie Said cajoled the team up the pitch, while Martina Fenech also pressed high up the pitch. A free-kick won on the left wing led to Birkirkara’s goal. Ann-Marie Said delivered deep, which caused issues for the Zurich defence once more and following a flurry of bodies, Francesca Chircop managed to get the ball over the line, to net her first ever goal in the competition and her first goal with Birkirkara. The Swiss team saw a final chance smack across the crossbar, before the Stripes cleared to the sound of the full-time whistle.
Full-Time Score: FC Zurich Women 3 – 1 Birkirkara FC
Post-Match Reactions
Chircop On Earning First Goal and Said On Growth Since 2017
The Sporting Fan asked Francesca Chircop about her feeling of scoring her first goal in the competition and also her first in Birkirkara colours. She said, “To score for the team in the Champions League and against a club of that calibre is a dream come true. It’s a great start and I could not feel more welcomed by the team. I hope to repay them with my performances on the pitch.”
Ann-Marie Said was questioned on her evaluation of the overall performance in the Champions League this year. She said, “I think as the coach said after the game against Breznica, we reached our targets and to get the win with ten players was significant. However, even so we believed that we could have done even better. Zurich of course bring a totally different level, so today our game perhaps was more initially focused on containment and then trying to get the best out of a limited number of opportunities. Of course in the end it is a defeat, so you always want more. I thought we had a solid penalty claim in the first half, which could have changed things drastically, but in the end I would say despite the defeat, we were solid and stayed concentrated throughout to even get on the scoreboard at the end.”
Having been part of the squad that competed against Zurich in 2017, which was her debut in the competition, Said was asked on how she compares the two performances. She replied, “As compared to Zurich of 2017, this Zurich team is very different in style of play. They now play fast possession-based football, as opposed to the perhaps more long-ball type approach that they played in 2017. When I consider our squad, there are many elements of the same first-eleven however if I consider myself, 2017 was my debut in the competition. Since then the experience we have gained as a team has helped us a lot. I think our physical preparation showed, even though you have to consider that Zurich has players who are coming from the World Cup and so come into these fixtures with a more professional setup behind them. However, I think if I compare today’s game to 2017, I think today we were more positive and adventurous going forward, which paid off in the end to get a goal back.”
Duenker On The Performance & Win
The Sporting Fan asked Zurich’s coach, Jacqueline Duenker, for her initial reaction following the win which secures a place in round two for Zurich. She said, “Congratulations to my team. Everyone saw that we were a bit nervous because you have to win to get to the next round and that makes it difficult mentally. I wished for an earlier goal, but credit to Birkirkara who were pressing well and we had to fight also with ourselves to get into the game.”
Questioned about whether she thought about making any changes when that first goal did not arrive so early, or whether it was about believing in the style of football and going for it, Duenker said it was the latter, “We are growing in our style of play. We have a lot of new, young players and the players from the national team came very late, so it is not easy to play the way you want to. Once the first goal came, then it became easier. However, I told the team in half-time that we need to trust in our system.”
Asked about what she pin-points as a factor that helped the team to extend the lead so much in the second-half, Duenker said, “I think the fact that we did not play on Wednesday helped us in the second half, whereas it was more difficult for Birkirkara. We were fresher, so could push and press more.”
Borg on Performance, Substitutions and Outlook For The Year
Her counterpart, Jose Borg, was asked whether despite the defeat he can be proud of the team’s performance to keep pushing until the end and also reduce the deficit to two. Borg said, “A defeat is always a defeat. Of course going into the match I was aware of the strength of Zurich. I’m proud of my girls for being tactically disciplined and sticking to the gameplan. We conceded the goals maybe with some technical and tactical mistakes, which I’m sure the girls will learn from.”
The coach also noted that there was still belief in trying to get something out of the game in the half-time talk, “We went into the break with just a single goal between us, and I told them to stay in the game as much as possible and that I would take all the risks possible to try to get something from the game if it stayed that way. However, it is football and things happened that we conceded the goal early in the second half. I think having played the game on Wednesday of course plays a part. We tried our best and still scored a goal, which maybe means nothing (in the face of defeat). However, we still have our name on the scoresheet against FC Zurich, who I’m sure we will be seeing more of in the advanced stages of the Champions League. Overall, it’s a good learning experience for my players and myself.”
Questioned about the decision to make an early substitution after just half an hour of play, Borg said, “I had two players who had a big fear factor, which was affecting also their endurance. In the first-half, Raina’s performance was affecting the game tactics and it was one of the weak points, so I had to make a change. My substitution did not really work as Mariah also had the same issue and in fact I had to substitute her out in the second half, so I used two substitutions. It meant that I was limited in how much I could then affect the game tactically in the second half because I had used two of my substitutions already. In the end it is football, things happen and you have to deal with it.”
Asked on how the overall performance in the UEFA Women’s Champions League this year will affect the team as they attempt to win the league title this year, considering a win in the semi-final against a seeded team and the performance against Zurich, Borg said, “Our first objective to win the game against Breznica and get second place was reached. Now our next target is to win the title to compete in the Champions League again next year. Should we do so, next year we want to grow and try to push for qualifying.”
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