FC Bayern – Miasanrot Advent Calendar, Door 16: Lina Magull
December 18, 2022 Lina Magull has already won the German championship three times. In addition, she has won two DFB-Pokals and even two Champions League titles. She is one of the greats in German football – say some. Others, however, have been critical of her during most of her career.
Her critics have questioned her quality to drag up her team in crucial games when things are not going well for them. The classic reproach of German football, one could say: Physically not strong enough, mentally too prone to giving up and self-doubt.
In the documentary “Born for this”, which accompanied the German women’s national team before and during the European Championship in England earlier this year, she spoke very openly about how hard it sometimes was for her to deal with criticism but also her potential to be even more focused and concentrated.
LINA MAGULL: FROM WOLFSBURG OVER FREIBURG TO BAYERN
However, hardly anyone would doubt that Magull has meanwhile become a world-class player. In her early days at VfL Wolfsburg, she showed where the journey could take her. She won both Champions League titles not yet being a regular player, but as an important part of the squad. She learned from greats like Nadine Keßler and Lena Goeßling.
Nevertheless, her path first led her to Freiburg, where she was part of a talented and up-and-coming team as a young but already experienced player. Laura Benkarth, Carolin Simon, Giulia Gwinn – all players Magull would later meet again in Munich. Just like Freiburg coach Jens Scheuer.
The switch to Freiburg was therefore not a big step backwards for her, because in her early twenties she already had to learn how to be a leading player. She was no longer one of many, nor was she the talent who learns from others. Instead, she had to lead the way and be a role model for even younger and/or inexperienced players.
LINA MAGULL AND FULFILLING A DREAM AT FC BAYERN
And so in 2018, FC Bayern took notice of her. “I’ve been an FC Bayern fan since I was little. That’s why signing with them is a dream come true for me,” the then 23-year-old was pleased to say. Born in Dortmund, she has often explained that she grew up a fan of FC Bayern despite her local proximity to BVB.
In the mid and late 2010s, FC Bayern developed into a force to be reckoned with in women’s football. Magull and Bayern – that probably fits together so well because both went through an almost synchronous development.
Magull faced and overcame her deficits – physically and mentally. She not only became captain of FC Bayern, but also fought her way into a midfield for the DFB team lushly equipped with first rate midfield players. At the latest at the European Championship last summer, where she scored important goals for Germany, won balls and distributed them, she arrived at the top of the world.
She now wants to get there with Bayern too. Under Alexander Straus, she is finally allowed to play where she feels most comfortable: in the attacking centre. Her qualities on the ball and her ability to link up with several teammates at once through her positioning are essential for the new FC Bayern. One that has developed together with Magull in recent years.
Another Champions League title is the 28-year-old’s big dream. It would probably be the most significant in her career at club level. Not only because she is now the one that fellow players look up to. But also because FC Bayern is her club. In the years to come, Magull can become one of the faces forever associated with FC Bayern Women’s rise to the elite of European football.
