She was never really gone.

Even in these ten months, when Tanja Pawollek was unable to help her team on the field, the captain of Eintracht Frankfurt's Bundesliga women showed her presence.

The 23-year-old accompanied her team at almost all games, spoke a few words in the dressing room, and before she was allowed to start training again herself, she tried to follow the sessions at least twice a week.

"I wanted to show that I'm still there, and if you need me, you can come to me," says Pawollek.

At first it wasn't easy to watch the others pursue their shared passion.

"Taking me out might have hurt less," says the defensive midfielder.

"But that's just not my style." Pawollek recognized early on that he took on responsibility.

That made the "absolute team player", as coach Niko Arnautis describes the native of Obertshausen, two and a half years ago the captain of the Hessians.

It was May 30, 2021, when the manager's perspective was to change abruptly.

Pawollek, whose parents were both born in Poland, had just received an invitation to the local national team.

Now, however, she faced defending champions VfL Wolfsburg with the eagle-bearers in the DFB Cup final in Cologne.

The game should end with a 1-0 win for the favorite after extra time.

surgery the next morning

For Pawollek, one of the stable pillars of the Eintracht team, it was over after just 40 minutes.

Without pressure from the opponent, she “simply buckled” and tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.

It was the first serious injury sustained by the robust player in her career.

An operation the very next morning, a lengthy rehab, that's what the prospects suddenly looked like.

All with the aim of getting back to where she had just been.

The time had come on April 1: Pawollek, after a few appearances previously in the second team, made her first appearance in the Bundesliga after the injury in the 71st minute of Eintracht's 4-0 win in Jena.

"With trembling knees," as she says, and surprised by a big gesture from her representative Laura Freigang, who passed the captain's armband directly to the returnee.

A very emotional moment, not only for Pawollek himself. "It shows what a great team spirit we have," she says.

There are still three matches left for the SGE this season. This Sunday (1:00 p.m. on MagentaSport) the opponent in the stadium at Brentanobad is Bayer Leverkusen, who are seventh in the table.

Eintracht, currently in fifth place, still has a chance of one of the three Champions League tickets with a three-point deficit.

"We want to win all three games," emphasizes Pawollek.

The coach will decide what role she will play.

Your attitude is exemplary.

Even in times that were so difficult for her, Pawollek had resolved to make the best of her situation.

Ten posts from 290 days, the first a photo that shows her laughing in the hospital bed together with a stuffed pig, testify to a “cool” rehab phase on Instagram.

"I've always tried to be positive," says Pawollek.

It helped her that she constantly set herself small goals that could be reached in a short time: walking without crutches for the first time.

Or the first steps on the treadmill.

Future in the national team of Poland

"I'm actually a very impatient person," she says.

The experience of having to wait and see will give her the strength to deal with difficult situations in the future.

She learned to appreciate football, which seemed so natural in her life, in a completely different way.

"I look forward to every training session like a little kid again," says the talent, who was praised early on.

Every effort, every exercise increases confidence in the knee.

Pawollek was in the starting lineup of the Eintracht team in the 2-0 friendly win over league rivals SC Freiburg a week ago.

In the ten years that she estimates that the trained clerk for office management will remain at the highest level, she wants to “take everything with her” that is possible.

That's why the long-standing junior select player of the German Football Association (DFB), who became European champion in 2016 with the U17s, decided to wear Poland's national jersey in the future.

In the squad of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, with whom she completed a first winter training camp at the beginning of 2019, the competition is very tough;

the Poles had often asked if the bearer of the Fritz Walter Medal for the best young German player in 2018 would switch to them.

"The concept appeals to me," says Pawollek.

Poland have made a step forward in women's football in recent years;

some players from the neighboring country, such as Ewa Pajor from Wolfsburg or Sylwia Matysik from Leverkusen, are now active in the Bundesliga.

In June, Tanja Pawollek could catch up on her debut with Poland at a training camp.

That's not certain yet.

The focus is initially on the Bundesliga.

And that Eintracht can again rely on their fighting captain on the field as if she had never been away.