Double six feat boosts Duisburg title bid

FCR 2001 Duisburg scored six goals for the second Frauen-Bundesliga game in four days on Saturday while UEFA Women's Cup final opponents Zvezda-2005 have learned that they will start the defence of their Russian title on 7 May.

Top form
Duisburg, who will travel to Kazan to play Zvezda on 16 May before the second leg at the MSV Arena six days later, beat Olympique Lyonnais 3-1 to reach the final a fortnight ago and have been on top form since. Last weekend another 3-1 win against VfL Wolfsburg took them into the German Cup final against 1. FFC Turbine on 30 May at Berlin's Olympiastadion. And two subsequent league victories have taken them to within a point of leading pair Potsdam and FC Bayern München.

Six-goal feats
On Wednesday they won 6-0 at lowly HSV Borussia Friedenstal. Femke Maes opened the scoring early on before two Fatmire Bajramaj goals and an Anne van Bonn effort made it four at the break. Alexandra Popp and Stephanie Goddard added to the victory in the second half. Today Duisburg prevailed 6-1 at home to SC 07 Bad Neuenahr. The visitors scored early on but Simone Laudehr equalised and Marina Hegering added goals on 16 and 37 minutes. Maes made it 4-1 before the interval and added a fifth shortly after half-time, and Linda Bresonik converted a penalty with 14 minutes left, to prove that Duisburg can still thrive without leading scorer Inka Grings, who has missed the last three games through injury.

Title race
All of the Bundesliga top four won this weekend, so Potsdam remain top on goal difference ahead of Bayern, who have five games left to their main rivals' four. Duisburg are third and reigning champions 1. FFC Frankfurt are two points further behind. The top two teams will enter the new UEFA Women's Champions League next season, with Duisburg gaining a third berth if they beat Zvezda but finish lower than second.

Russian league
Zvezda retained the Russian title in 2008 so already have a provisional UEFA Women's Champions League spot guaranteed along with runners-up WFC Rossiyanka. They are both among seven clubs who will aim for the 2009 Russian championship, with fixtures to commence on 7 May, Zvezda playing promoted Lada Tolliati at home in Perm. Unlike in previous years, when the championship has been in two stages, this season's league will be in a simple home-and-away format, with a two-month break from 26 July to allow the Russia national squad preparation time for UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ from 23 August until 10 September.