With the Spotify Camp Nou as a backdrop and shielded by the 38 trophies she has lifted in her 14 years as a blaugrana, Alexia Putellas said goodbye. “Yesterday I felt a huge emptiness, my heart hurt, and today I am full of love,” said the eternal culé captain, who tried to hold back her emotion.
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Flanked by a Ballon d’Or on each side, she confessed that it has been a difficult year: “Yesterday was a very emotional day, the whole season has been. For starting to wonder if it could be the last and living it as such, just in case,” the captain began. Used to keeping her composure, this time she wanted to allow herself to let go: “During the season the schedule doesn’t allow it, you can destabilize the team… but today I had promised I would open up,” she said. Although she maintained her composure with considerable stoicism and only broke down at certain moments.
The first was when Xavi Llorens sat next to her, her first coach at Barcelona and the one who brought her back home when she was 18, the same summer she had just lost her father. “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t appeared,” she told him looking into his eyes: “It was a difficult time for my family. I remember that day, in the bar on the corner of the apartment where I lived in Mollet. I remember the phrase you told me: ‘It can mark a before and after. You can do amazing things. You will be an emblem of the club.’ But you said it convinced. I didn’t pay attention, we played in the CE only in front of our families… and now I see it and say: ‘It has happened.’ Only he was seeing it.” Her voice broke before a Xavi Llorens who praised “the talent, the competitive and winning personality” of an Alexia who “has no limit, neither as a player nor as a person.” “With him I understood what it means to be a Barça player,” said the captain. “She still has a lot to do. She has a future at Barça,” Llorens assured.
No one wanted to miss her farewell. She was accompanied by the entire squad, the technical staff, the culé board with president Rafa Yuste and the elected president Joan Laporta, and former players like Olga García or the historic captain Carles Puyol, as well as her family and closest friends. Everyone supported Alexia in her goodbye. From above, the workers who are working on the stadium remodeling looked on with curiosity as privileged witnesses of a historic farewell. In the stands, 110 accredited media to bear witness to a moment that is already history.
Alexia will always be part of FC Barcelona’s history, where she leaves an eternal legacy. From Virginia Torrecilla, Vicky Losada, Melanie Serrano or Patri Guijarro, to Stoichkov, Puyol, Busquets or Iniesta. All who said goodbye to the captain in a beautiful video projected on the Camp Nou screens highlighted the legacy she leaves and her role as a driving force to inspire new generations.
“It’s never a good time to say goodbye to you,” began Patri Guijarro as Alexia broke down crying. Her handing over of the captain’s armband in her last match at the Camp Nou symbolized the passing of the baton. “I know you gave everything for this club, we all know it. I will miss you a lot,” said an emotional Patri Guijarro.
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“In January you told me we would lift the four titles together,” Marta Torrejón reminded her. “The pioneer of world football,” described Hristo Stoichkov: “Legends never leave, they stay.”
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For her it was important to leave knowing there is a future at the club, she said, and spoke about the new generations alongside a very emotional Vicky López, who tried to speak without being able to hold back tears: “From day one she has been much more than our captain. The example to follow inside and outside, she has always been there for us.” “They will be incredible, in ten years I hope you remember me,” she told them reminding them “never to lose the passion, which is what drives everything.” “Being a Barça player is 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It’s okay to raise your hand when you’re exhausted, but while you’re here you have to give 100%.” “They are more than ready to make history at this club,” she concluded.
If I had to imagine a perfect ending, it was this
Alexia, who ended up being tossed in the air by all her teammates at the end of the event, assured that “this is the best thing that has happened to me in life.” “If I had to imagine a perfect ending, it was this.” It was a day to say goodbye and she did not want to spoil it by talking about the future, which she said she has not yet decided: “I still don’t know where. I have a summer ahead to make the decision.” “These players won’t be here, this technical staff won’t be here, nor this fan base because they are irreplaceable,” she assured.
Beyond the jersey she will wear next season – everything points to it being that of the London City Lionesses of Michele Kang – her intention is to remain linked to Barça and she announced that she will open an academy for 400 girls with her Eleven Foundation and the FC Barcelona Foundation.
She is leaving because, like another culé legend, Pep Guardiola, she feels she has given everything: “I have emptied myself,” she admitted yesterday in the video of her farewell. But also for her family: “I have always felt that I was also playing for them. It was a way to feel my father close. It has also been hard for them because I have dragged them into many things. One of the reasons was also this, I didn’t want my family to empty themselves too,” she said with a broken voice.
It will be a long day for the eternal blaugrana captain who this afternoon will say goodbye to the fans at the Johan Cruyff. It will be the last time she wears this club’s jersey, she will not travel to Madrid for the last league match and will say goodbye today against Real Sociedad, at home. It couldn’t be any other way.
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