Ahen Georgia Stanway came to Bayern Munich as European champion with England in the summer, she was supposed to sing a song for the first time. The 23-year-old midfielder didn’t hesitate, climbed onto a plastic chair and, wearing flip-flops, smashed the hit song “Sweet Caroline”, which she had heard often enough as the unofficial anthem of the European Championships.
Apart from the fact that Stanway unsurprisingly had problems with legal traffic in Germany, she also sets the tone for the Munich women, as hoped. “I enjoy the responsibility,” she assures. And anyone who may have had doubts about this no longer has to do so since this Wednesday evening at the latest: In the Champions League game at Benfica Lisbon she was a match winner.
The Munich team was 2-0 down before Maximiliane Rall made it 2-1 (67th). Then Stanway completely took over this crazy game: first the energetic Englishwoman, who shapes the game structure in the sixth and eighth position, managed to equalize (83′); and in stoppage time (90 + 8) also the winning goal.
He triggered pure ecstasy. “Georgia Stanway won the game for us,” said new coach Alexander Straus, unsurprisingly. Stanway himself preferred to speak in general terms. “We made it difficult for ourselves. But we stood together, fought back and rewarded ourselves with three points, that’s what counts,” she said.
