Catarina Macario exclusive: USWNT & Chelsea star on 'rebuilding foundations' after 21-month injury absence, a pre-season she 'needed' and 'expecting to be free' as new WSL campaign begins

Rooted in that comment from Macario is evidence of her admitted lack of patience, something which will have made the last few years even more difficult. After suffering an ACL injury in June 2022, it would take 21 months for the forward to return to action, with her able to at least mark the end of one of the most arduous and challenging recoveries in style, as she scored on a Chelsea debut that came some nine months after her signing was announced.

That comeback did not signal the end of the hard work that needed to be done to ensure all would be well moving forward, though. Last season, Bompastor was extremely careful with Macario and her loading in order to, in the words of the 25-year-old, “rebuild my foundations”. “I would definitely say that I am not necessarily a very patient person, just because I like putting in work and I find a lot of joy in doing that. So last year, we definitely had a lot - a lot - of talks, just to try and figure out what the right programme was,” Macario explains.

“My strength and conditioning coaches were trying to show me, 'Well, this is where you were before. This is the most load that you've had in two or three years'. Of course, they were happy with that, but at the same time, as someone that demands a lot from myself, it was very tough and mentally taxing as well, just because I know - or think I know - what I need to do in order to be the best version of myself. But sometimes you just have to be patient because certain things are out of your control. You also just have to listen to the experts and trust that they know what they're talking about.”

It became a process in which it was important to celebrate the small wins and achievements, almost like a long injury recovery. “It's exactly like that,” Macario confirms. “You just have to take it one day at a time and recognise, 'Okay, yesterday it was like this. Today, it is like this and it's much better'. Even though it's not exactly where you may want to be, or how things were before, it's about the long game. It's a marathon, not a sprint. You've got to be patient in doing that and be consistent in putting in the right work.

“I think from January on, I was available for almost every game, which was a big achievement. Sometimes it's just about remembering how far you have come and recognising that you can't go from zero to 100. This season, I'm definitely expecting to just be free. Still making smart decisions but, at the end of the day, I just love playing, I just love getting better and I think hopefully we'll have that this year.

“I'm in a much, much better spot. I definitely feel like I've been able to at least start off being just like any other player. I think that is the most important thing and the most freeing thing, really, for myself, and I'm sure for the club as well, just to know, 'Yeah, Cat's fine. She doesn't need any extra treatment or anything. Just let her do her thing'. It's been nice.”

Despite the restraints placed upon her by that process, Macario was still able to ‘do her thing’ plenty last season, whetting the appetite for the Chelsea fans with each and every appearance she made. At the end of the campaign, the U.S. international had contributed 11 goals and five assists to the Blues’ treble-winning efforts, averaging a direct goal contribution every 88 minutes.

There will be many who expect big things from her this season, then, given the great place she is in, and Macario is one of them: “I do have high expectations of myself, for sure. I think every person has high expectations of themselves, you know? We have to, otherwise you're not pushing yourself. I'm just trying to be better every day. I have tried to work hard over the summer and during pre-season to just put myself in a better place so that I can at least just help the team a little bit more and bring my quality to the game. We'll see how it goes.”

It's hard not to think of the cliché that Macario could be ‘like a new signing’ for Chelsea in some ways next season, and she is not the only one. Sam Kerr’s own difficult ACL recovery should hopefully reach its conclusion soon, something her American team-mate is one of many to be excited about. “Sam will be a big, big addition,” she beams. “She's a tremendous player. It's a privilege to share a locker room with her.”

Similar can be said of Naomi Girma, who Chelsea signed for a then-world-record fee back in January but was only able to make eight appearances before the end of the campaign after picking up a knock on her debut. “I feel like I'm Nay's number one supporter,” Macario says of one of her closest friends. “I would trust her with my life. That is my Secretary of Defence, for sure. Just having her around would just add so much to our team and it would just make it so much better. For the people that don't know her already, I know that they won't be disappointed.”

That is on top of the transfer business Chelsea have done in this summer window, too. Ellie Carpenter is the big name among their four new signings and another player Macario knows well from her time in Lyon. “Having someone like that just helps take us to a different level, just to help raise the standard and keep that winning mentality,” she notes. “Sometimes it can be easy to just get complacent. I think when you have people like Ellie, people that are just competitors and are ruthless, it just helps keep you always on your toes. I missed playing with her. We have a very good connection.”

One of the most notable features of Carpenter’s arrival is that it adds yet another Champions League winner to a Chelsea team that is still chasing its first European title. The Australia international won the trophy twice at Lyon, where all of Macario, Bompastor, Kadeisha Buchanan and Lucy Bronze also lifted it. Her recruitment is another indication that the Blues’ focus is on that elusive continental crown.

But there are also three trophies they would love to retain, after they won the WSL, FA Cup and League Cup in the 2024-25 season. Those title defences look set to be more difficult than ever this time around, judging by the moves their big rivals have been making. Arsenal, fresh off the back of winning the Champions League in May,  made Olivia Smith the first million pound player in the women’s game earlier this summer; Manchester City have caught the eye with some smart additions, contract renewals and the appointment of a new manager, in Andree Jeglertz; while Manchester United made a real statement with the signing of Fridolina Rolfo, a two-time European champion at Barcelona.

It's further evidence that Chelsea’s investment is helping to bring the entire WSL along, which is not the case elsewhere in Europe. One only has to look at Macario’s old team, Lyon, for a totally different situation. There, the league has changed to include an end-of-season play-off format to decide the title, meaning the champion is not crowned for finishing top of the table. It’s a switch that Ada Hegerberg, the Ballon d’Or-winning Lyon striker, described to GOAL last year as “absolutely terrible”. “Instead of pushing and trying to meet the standards of the best, you try to pull them down in order to get some excitement in the league,” she lamented.

Asked what it is like to be in the opposite situation to the one frustrating her former team-mate, Macario believes it is “important” to see investment from the WSL’s chasing pack as they try to end Chelsea's run of six successive league triumphs. “That's what helps grow the game, that's what helps grow the league and that is why this is arguably the best league in the world, because it's so competitive," she says. "Everyone is at your heels all the time - and that's fun. It's exciting.

“I do hope that other leagues, like the French league, can increase their investment and bring other teams in as well. But it's exciting to be in a league like this and I think it just gives you that extra motivation to want to play every single game. You know you have to be your very best self because you just never know what can happen.”

It’s that best self that Chelsea fans, and many neutrals, will be desperate to see from Macario this season. They’ve been treated to plenty of glimpses of her world-class talent to this point, but the hope is that the 21-month injury lay-off and the meticulous management of minutes that came as a consequence of it are all behind her now, for good.

“The past three summers, unfortunately, I have been out of the game,” she says, reflecting on a period which forced her to miss the 2023 Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Olympic Games with the USWNT. “To finally have had this summer to do what I love, to just grind it out, was really fun. I really needed that.”

When someone is describing the gruelling task of pre-season as ‘fun’, you know they’re in a good place. It’s abundantly clear that, physically and mentally, Macario is.