Evans, Abbé and Miedema on Bayern-Paris

Bayern München may be a bigger name in world football than FFC Frankfurt, Turbine Potsdam, Duisburg and Wolfsburg, but in the women's game the Bavarians have had to tip their (felt and feathered) hats to that other quartet.

These are the five German teams to have entered UEFA women's club competition, and they all won in their debut seasons except for Bayern, who exited in the round of 16 in 2009/10 and fell to Twente in the last 32 on their second attempt in 2015/16. This time, though, fresh from a second straight German title, they are into the UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-finals and ready to tackle Paris Saint-Germain in Thursday's home first leg.

In their tilt at the top, Bayern have built a formidable squad mixing star German players and elite foreign imports. Ten nationalities in all are represented at Bayern and we spoke to three of them – Scotland striker Lisa Evans, Switzerland defender Caroline Abbé and Netherlands forward Vivianne Miedema – about playing for the club and facing Paris.

UEFA.com: What do you think of the tie with Paris?

Lisa Evans: I've been lucky enough to actually have quite a lot of experience playing in the Champions League. Maybe not the latter stages, but with Glasgow City, Potsdam and now Bayern.

We had the disappointment last year of getting put out quite early against FC Twente, but this year we're in the later stages and we just want to go out there and get the game done and get through.

Caroline Abbé: It will definitely be something of a step up because Paris are one of the best teams in Europe, so it'll be a great challenge for us, but I think we've shown how much progress we've made recently.

UEFA.com: What's it like playing for a club like Bayern?

Vivianne Miedema: Personally, I have made great progress at Bayern. It is a totally different way of playing. The training sessions are really demanding. I have become a much more complete player and fitter.

Abbé: It's unique, getting to play for Bayern as a Swiss footballer. We're always trying to be better, we've won the German league twice now, and we'd like to go further in the Champions League. We're through to the quarter-finals, but we'd like to go even further.

Evans: I think it's definitely changed me. I've been over here for almost five years, so it's obviously great to be in a different culture and in different surroundings. You learn more about yourself, it puts you in a different situation in life; and obviously on the football aspect, it's just a totally different ball game altogether.

Playing in Germany, I see it as one of the best women's leagues in the world at the minute. And they've done it year in, year out with their women's national team, how successful they've been, so it's really good to be part of that league and be in that set-up.

Miedema during Bayern's shock exit to Twente last season©FC Twente Media

UEFA.com: What did it mean to win the league?

Evans: Without doubt, until the present, I'd say it was one of the best things I've done in my career. One of the most enjoyable things, and also to be part of the Bundesliga for three years before that was great. I had been a runner-up [with Potsdam], but to be in a position to actually go and win it was something else, it was absolutely amazing, a great experience.

Miedema: Becoming German champions twice was fantastic. It was a great experience. It's great to put on your CV. It was such a tremendous experience. I hope we can do it again this year.

UEFA.com: Vivianne, up against you in goal for Paris will be your Netherlands colleague Loes Geurts ...

Miedema: Yes, Loes Geurts plays for Paris so that'll be an interesting Dutch showdown. It's always good fun playing against international team-mates and I'm sure we'll have some banter about it, so I've just got to make sure we win!