If Rapinoe happens to be wearing something with the Lyon logo on it in public, she might be recognized by a fan of OL, as the team is known. Otherwise, as successful as the Lyon women’s team has been, there is still a measure of anonymity for its players. When a photographer hired by The New York Times asked to take some pictures of Rapinoe on one of the scenic pedestrian bridges that cross the Rhone, for example, none of the other passers-by seemed to notice. (They were mostly taking pictures themselves.)

“I do feel like a tourist and I want to feel like a tourist sometimes,” Rapinoe said. “I want to do everything. Some of the other girls on the team, I never see them out doing things. I don’t know what they do sometimes; but after training, I want to go do something and see something.”

That is how she ended up spending an evening at Lyon’s famed opera house, which has 18 levels, an elegant facade and a foyer; it is often praised as one of France’s most dramatic stages. Rapinoe, who readily admitted that she is not an opera enthusiast, settled in that night for what she described as an “amazing” performance by a company from the Czech Republic.

There was only one small issue. “There were French subtitles,” she said. “I didn’t understand what the performers were saying because they were Czech and I kept looking at the subtitles and thinking: Why am I looking at these subtitles? I don’t know what they mean either.”

Over all, Rapinoe does try to fit in as a local, and the European lifestyle seems to agree with her. Certainly it does from a soccer perspective, as Rapinoe’s searching passes and sharp eye for player movement have always conjured images of a slick playmaker from the continent more than the stereotypical American female soccer player who relies on size or speed to distinguish herself.

“I can see why she likes it,” Julie Foudy, the former United States women’s team star and current analyst for ESPN, said in an interview. “She’s always been a player that loves the flair of the game and loves the nuances of the game.”

Foudy added, “The thing about Megan is that you may not notice her over 90 minutes dominating a game, but when you go back and look at tape, she is the one that is creating chances.”