Pernille Harder’s 13-minute hat trick late in the game lifted Bayern Munich to a 5-2 win over Arsenal in the opening game of their Women’s Champions League group on Wednesday. A back-and-forth game that both teams had led was poised at 2-2 in the 73rd when Harder expertly guided in a header from a corner. The veteran Denmark forward rose highest five minutes later to meet a cross by Klara Bühl with her head, then got her third in the 86th when bundling the ball past Arsenal goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger at the second attempt.
The result was harsh on Arsenal, which started strongly and deservedly led in the 30th when Spain forward Mariona guided in a left-foot volley from Katie McCabe’s cross. Another of Spain’s 2023 World Cup winning-squad, defender Laia Codina, leveled the game at 2-2 in the 65th with a header from McCabe’s corner. Bayern had rallied to level in the 43rd from a looping header by captain Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir, then led for the first time with perhaps the standout goal.
Sydney Lohmann took a pass on a fast break in the 56th and with one touch teed up her shot on the run that she fired low and hard past Zinsberger, who was beaten at her near post. Harder has lost three finals in the Women’s Champions League — twice with Wolfsburg and once with Chelsea — and Bayern looked like a team Wednesday capable of getting to its first final. Also in Group C, Vålerenga hosted Juventus later in Norway.
In Group D, Hammarby beat St. Pölten o.