Bajramaj confident as Frankfurt stand firm

The 1. FFC Frankfurt players were in bullish mood after a comfortable 3-0 home defeat of Paris Saint-Germain FC in their UEFA Women's Champions League round of 16 first leg Wednesday.

Cheered on by a crowd of 2,610, Frankfurt played some breathtaking football early on. They had already hit the bar through Melanie Behringer and post when Laure Boulleau almost scored an own goal before Fatmire Bajramaj broke the deadlock in the ninth minute.

Second-half strikes from Kerstin Garefrekes and Behrinher completed the scoring and left the three-time European champions handily placed to advance past the competition debutants when the tie concludes in the French capital next Wednesday.

Bajramaj felt it was "very important" to score early and settle nerves, even if she felt her brilliant rising shot from outside the area owed more to luck than judgement. "I didn't plan to shoot," she told UEFA.com. "I just wanted to cross."

PSG headed to Germany with an unbeaten record this season but could only muster two first-half opportunities as the home rearguard stood firm. "We did a good job in defence," continued Bajramaj. "They didn't have a single opportunity in the second half."

Behringer added: "Our aim is always to hit our opponents early and luckily we managed to do that today; we felt a bit more secure after the early goal. It was an important step in the right direction and we're in a good position now. Our defence worked well and we created opportunities up front. Paris played aggressively in midfield, but they were relatively weak in attack."

One of the key figures in that PSG engine room, Élise Bussaglia, rued a lack of mental strength. "We're very disappointed as it was a bad performance," she said. "We didn't get into the game and were mentally not ready for the fight – physically or technically. We even kind of watched them playing football, which was a pity."

Defender Laure Lepailleur concurred: "Losing 3-0 is a bit tough. It was naïve the way we conceded the goals. Frankfurt are an experienced side and they punish the smallest mistake, so we were made to pay today. We're quite a young side and quite a few of the players haven't played in such a competition."

Still, Lepailleur has not totally given up on sealing an unlikely passage through to the quarter-finals. "It will be difficult but football's a game and anything is possible," she concluded.