Chelsea midfielder Melanie Leupolz played an important role for Germany as they defeated the Republic of Ireland 3-0 in their latest UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 qualifying match in Essen this afternoon.
The 26-year-old, who joined The Blues this summer after opting to leave Bayern Munich, played 64 minutes for her country, providing an assist for the second goal.
Germany went into the match knowing that victory over Vera Pauw’s Republic of Ireland side would take them top of the group and leave them in a commanding position going into their last three qualifying matches. There was plenty of urgency in the German performance as they netted three first half goals. Dzsenifer Marozsan, a player thought to have been on Manchester City’s radar this summer, was at the heart of it.
Marozsan created the chance for Marina Hegering to open the scoring after nine minutes before adding a goal of her own six minutes before the break after being played in by Leupolz. Lea Schuller completed the scoring three minutes later as the game was put well and truly to bed.
A busy performance from Chelsea midfielder Leupolz was brought to a close 19 minutes into the second half with Sara Dabritz replacing her.
The victory for Germany leaves them two points clear of second-placed nation the Republic of Ireland with a game in hand. It seems certain that we will be seeing Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s side in England in summer 2022.
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