Catarina Macario may still be in the early stages of her career at the highest level, but after 20 months on the sideline, she’s gained the kind of perspective associated with a veteran.
The U.S. women’s national team forward was sidelined for over 20 months after suffering a torn ACL in June 2022, with multiple setbacks costing her a World Cup and a full European season.
Even after a summer move to Chelsea, Macario only made her Blues debut on March 3, scoring in a 4-0 win over Leicester.
Speaking to The Guardian, Macario emphasized that such a difficult battle to return to the field redefined so much about how she thinks about her career.
“Before the injury I’d be really nervous before big games: ‘I don’t want to mess up, I just want to be able to perform well for my team,” said Macario. “Sometimes I almost got too much in my own head to the point that I wouldn’t be able to perform, really.
“But I feel like now, since the injury, I’m just grateful to be on the pitch again and just to have legs.”
Macario is still very much in the early stages of her return, and is not expected to start Sunday’s Continental Cup final against Arsenal. Thus far, Chelsea boss Emma Hayes (who will soon enough be evaluating the 24-year-old for USWNT duty) has been peppering Macario into matches, calling on her as a substitute in each of the club’s last five games.
The USWNT star has responded quickly, posting a goal and two assists in just 105 minutes as Chelsea advanced to the semifinals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League while also inching ahead of Manchester City atop the Women’s Super League standings on goal difference.
“My first game back I was able to score and you could see the joy in everyone,” recalled Macario. “That meant so much. Even though we had trained together for a while, it felt like such a big celebration. It really was such a genuine moment and so emotional too that I could literally not imagine being part of another team.”
Macario hopes for ‘fun’ Continental Cup final
Despite the big stage that is a final between two of the giants of European women’s soccer, Macario maintains that for her to succeed, she has to focus on having a good time first and foremost.
“I know that it’s a big game, but I personally don’t really think about it that way any more,” said Macario. “You’re supposed to do the work for [a final] before you get to this point, so let’s just have some fun.”
Macario indicated that she has a massive amount of gratitude for the Chelsea medical team for seeing her through what was a murky, challenging return to full fitness.
“Our head of performance one day told me, ‘I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time focused on one player, but we’re doing this just to try to get it right for you so that you can be healthy in the long term, and be able to contribute for us,’ explained Macario.
“That’s something that I really appreciate, and I honestly could never repay them. I did at times think, ‘Will I be able to play at that level again?’ There were definitely a lot of doubts. They just reassured me a lot.
“A lot of times I didn’t believe them. That’s why now everything just feels like a dream, like a miracle.”
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