“We definitely don’t want to win the ‘Wolfsburg Cup,’ as some people might call it. We want to win the [German] Cup, and then maybe we can name it something different this year.”
Footballer Georgia Stanway is not fazed. The England midfielder scored the opener as Bayern Munich beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 on Saturday to retain the Bundesliga and put the club on the verge of the first domestic double in its history. A German Cup final on May 9 against Wolfsburg, the standard setters in German women’s football and winners of the last nine straight cups, is not something the 25-year-old is concerned by.
“We know that whenever we play Wolfsburg, we don’t know what we’re going to get,” Stanway told DW. “Those games are going to be fierce and a real high quality.
“The pressure’s high, but as a team, we’re in a really good place. I’m excited, and it is really difficult not to get ahead of yourself.”
World Cup hangover long gone
Stanway has had little time to step away from the game since England lost the World Cup final to Spain last August. The midfielder’s desire to push through caught up with her, though.
“Post World Cup, I was okay because I just wanted to keep going forward and hoping that time would be the healer,” she said. “It only hit me around December. My body and my mind were not right. I was tired the whole time, I’d never slept so much in my life. The performances I was giving weren’t up to the standard I wanted them to be.”
Ultimately, Stanway realized needed a break.
“I knew that the reason why I wasn’t in my A-game was because I was tired of my life. I needed to go home and needed to see my family.”
Stanway attributed her return to form and her improvement overall to the approach of Bayern head coach Alexander Straus.
“I’ve never had a manager that’s so approachable,” Stanway explained. “He cares about everything, maybe too much.
“He cares about everything that’s going on in your life, and he cares about everything that’s going on in your football because he knows that anything can affect another.
“I’ve had it with Sarina Wiegman [England manager], but you’ve got that female connection. I’ve never had that with a male manager.”
Artist on and off the pitch
To suggest that Stanway’s reset at home is her only source of comfort would be to miss the connection she continues to make with Munich. Recently, she has begun turning another unique passion into a reality: being a tattoo artist.
“It’s my way of escaping from everything,” she explained. “Just being able to have some peace and quiet. The reward afterward is special.”
After visiting a tattoo parlor when she first moved to the city, Stanway formed a connection with the artists and found it became a therapeutic exercise.
“It’s very nerve-wracking, but you have to be calm in the process. By the end, you’re high on adrenaline because you’ve just made someone genuinely happy.”
Return to form
Stanway has clearly been doing that on the field this season, too, with her jersey one of the top-selling when the club released a special women’s only kit earlier this year.
It’s no coincidence either that the Bavarian’s most convincing performances have coincided with Stanway’s return to form. Five goals in her last five outings in all competitions have underlined her attacking qualities, but her influence has grown well beyond goalscoring output.
Everything about this England midfielder is at the core of why Bayern are two wins removed from winning the first double in club history, a feat that would secure her a well-earned respite in the off-season.
“Actually for me this summer, it’s an opportunity for me to get a break,” admitted Stanway. “This will be my first summer off since 2016, from youth tournaments to EUROs/World Cups.”
“So as much as I am disappointed I’m not going to the Olympics because I would have loved to have represented Team GB, I also know that my body and my mind are dying for a rest. It seems like an ideal time.”
Edited by James Thorogood
