It is November 12, 2025. The defending Champions League champions from Arsenal have arrived at Munich's Allianz Arena, where Bayern Munich's Women's team does not normally play, but the club has made an exception for tonight. The star players, with a lineup full of world-class women's footbal stars, scored in the 5th minute.
And although the home team Bayern was supported by around 15,000 fans, the Gunners scored again in the 23rd minute. At halftime, they had a comfortable lead, and the Bayern players went into the second half with an uncomfortable two-goal deficit.
But the match lasts 90 minutes, and until the whistle blows, it's not over. In the 62nd minute, 18-year-old Alara Şehitler, who will turn 19 in a few days, entered the field, replacing star striker Lea Schüller. Schüller, on whom many fans had relied on, was unable to get past Dutch national team goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar.
It took the young German only five minutes to reduce the deficit when Klara Bühl sent the ball in her direction and Alara made it 2-1. The stadium shook to its foundations as fans waved their red and white scarves to the sounds of Offenbach Can Can Music. The euphoria that suddenly swept through the stadium was thanks to the aforementioned Alara, for whom it was her first goal in the Champions League.
She had already scored two goals in the Bundesliga and added a third before the winter break, equaling her maximum from last season. Those are not bad numbers at all for such a young player.
Although it may seem so, Alara is not a club academy graduate. She spent her childhood at FC Ravensburg in southern Germany, where she was born into a family of Turkish descent on her father's side. It was there that she took her first steps in football, at the local club, where most of her teammates were boys.
However, her whole family were football enthusiasts and fans of Bavaria's biggest club. Little Alara dreamed that one day she too would wear the jersey. Her dream came true perhaps even sooner than she could have imagined.
In 2023, when she was not even 17 yet, her dream club showed interest in her. And even though she mainly played for the B team at first, it was still a great achievement for such a young player from a small town. She fought her way up from the B team to the A team, and although she is mostly a substitute player, she has shown, not only in the Champions League, that the club can count on her in the future.
