Däbritz plays part in PSG win over Bayern

It was less than three years ago that Sara Däbritz left Munich for Paris. But, even in 2019, the thought that the next time she might play a match in her native Bavaria would be in the Allianz Arena was the stuff of fantasy. 

"Honestly, I never thought about that," she told DW ahead of the game. "But now, with the new Champions League system and the standard of women's football getting better and better, when I saw the draw that we are playing against Munich, I had it a little in my head that 'maybe we're playing in the Allianz Arena — this would be amazing.'"

Däbritz got her moment, though reality was a little more mixed than she may have hoped. The 27-year-old started for Paris Saint-Germain as they beat Bayern Munich 2-1 on Tuesday night to take a big step towards the Champions League semifinals, but was forced off early.

After a tight opening, the midfielder's wicked, in-swinging 20th-minute corner created havoc in the home defense, eventually allowing the prolific Marie-Antoinette Katoto to fire home. But Däbritz wasn't on the pitch to see the French forward double the Parisian lead in the 71st minute, she was substituted after a clash of heads with Glodís Perla Viggosdottir shortly before halftime.

If she couldn't have realistically imagined such a sequence of events in the 75,000-capacity arena back in 2019, it was entirely inconceivable when Däbritz was growing up a short drive away. The increase in interest in the women's game at the top level means all but one of the quarterfinal ties in this season's Champions League quarterfinals will be played at stadiums normally reserved for the men.

"For me it's just a positive feeling, the positive vibes you get when you enter a stadium like that. You go onto the grass, which is perfect, then you see the stadium — it's beautiful," Däbritz said leading up to the match. "And I hope we'll be playing in front of many, many fans. This is the atmosphere we're wishing for, and it's giving us motivation and more strength."

While she was on the end of a few wolf whistles while taking early dead balls, none in the 13,000 crowd were pleased to see a former hero, and Germany international, depart such an occasion in such circumstances. The home fans were however in much finer voice when Klara Bühl rifled home a powerful late free kick to halve the deficit and give Bayern a slightly smaller hill to climb in Paris.

"It's annoying — we are disappointed," Bayern's Lina Magull said after the match. "But we can be satisfied with our performance. I am optimistic that we will take our chances next week and advance."

Leading the way

PSG head coach Didier Olle-Nicolle will doubtlessly be keen to have one of his key players back for that return on March 30, if at all possible. Däbritz is equally key for Germany and captained the national team in February's Arnold Clark Cup, a tournament that also featured England, Canada and Spain, and she is relishing being a leader for club and country.

"I'm growing, I'm 27 now, and I've played many games for the national team and the clubs, so I call myself an experienced player, and I try to help the young ones, the people who are coming in to our squad," she said.

The former Freiburg midfielder burst on to the international stage as a surprise call-up for the 2013 European Championship, which Germany went on to win. By 2016 she had added a Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich, an under-20 World Cup and an Olympic gold medal to her collection. Her next challenge was to play abroad, something relatively few female German internationals do.

"The differences in the culture have helped me, the different playing styles — it's all stuff that helps you develop as a player and a person. I'm really happy about my experience," she said.

"It was important to me when I moved abroad to learn the language fast, to adapt to the culture, and I think this has gone quite well," she said, "so it helped me to integrate into the team faster and understand the culture and the club."

Road to recovery

Though she was able to adapt off the pitch quickly enough, Däbritz faced an enormous challenge just a few months after joining PSG, when she sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in December 2019 in a game against Montpellier.

She said her positive nature, and the support of family, friends and social media followers, meant that dealing with an injury at such a key point in her career was something to use to her advantage.

"This injury made me even stronger, mentally, as a person, but, also on the pitch, it helped me going through all of those challenges during the injury," she said. "So now I feel really comfortable — I enjoy playing in another country."

In a different sort of way, Däbritz enjoyed playing in "another" country on Tuesday night, at least until that nasty clash of heads in the 41st minute. Despite that, it was a dream achieved and, as she's shown before, injury setbacks don't put her off for long.

Edited by Chuck Penfold