From the euphoria of the fourth Champions League to the sadness of a farewell that, although anticipated in recent weeks, still hurts. The departure of Alexia Putellas is now a reality. Three days after being crowned European champions, Barça and their captain have announced her farewell with an emotional video through social media.
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“Where do I start,” begins the captain in an emotional video reviewing her 14-year history at FC Barcelona. The memory of her father, her love for these colors, and everything conquered in these almost two decades… all set to the melody of ‘Magnolias’ by Rosalía, which provides the soundtrack to the most significant farewell in this club.
“The time has come to acknowledge that I have given everything for these colors. With a daily demand and obsession to improve for 14 years. I have always said that this jersey cannot be defended halfway, and I admit that I have given my all, which is why I want to say that this Wednesday will be my last match as an FCB player,” announces Alexia.
The 32-year-old blaugrana captain will leave Barça at the end of the season after 14 years at the club and will head to Michele Kang’s London City Lionesses. That girl who went to Camp Nou with her father and uncle and never dreamed of all she would experience is now a woman who has changed the history of women’s football. Her legacy goes far beyond the 38 titles—more than even Leo Messi (35)—or the two Ballon d’Or awards—which will likely become three this year.
The history of Barça cannot be understood without Alexia Putellas. She joined the club in 2012, the same year the blaugrana team debuted in the Champions League. A very young 18-year-old Alexia was a starter in both matches against Arsenal, in which the blaugrana failed to score a single goal and conceded a total of 7-0. On Saturday, she lifted Barça’s fourth title to equal Eintracht in the continental record, only behind Lyon’s eight trophies.
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Captain and emblem of the club after a season in which she reached two milestones that enlarge her legend. Against Real Madrid at Spotify Camp Nou, she reached 500 matches wearing the blaugrana jersey, and with her brace against Bayern at the same venue, she equaled César as the club’s all-time top scorer with 232 goals. She still has two league matches left to increase these figures. She will not reach the 517 matches of the already retired Melanie Serrano—she has 506. Nor will she reach the 672 goals of the eternal Leo Messi, but she can surpass César if she scores in these last two games.
Favorite to win the Ballon d’Or for the third year, she says goodbye with a quartet of titles for the second time in the club’s history and was chosen as the best player of the season in the Champions League. And not only with Barça, Alexia Putellas has transformed women’s football. She was one of the first figures to start inspiring new generations. World champion and the player with the most caps for Spain. A reference on and off the field, now also working with young people worldwide through her Eleven Foundation.
She kicked her first ball in the streets of her hometown Mollet, started playing at Sabadell at 6 years old, debuted in the First Division with Espanyol, and after a brief stint at Levante, in summer 2012 she received a call from Xavi Llorens to return home. Her coach during her first years at the blaugrana club holds a very special place in the Catalan footballer’s heart. He was one of the first people Alexia looked for in Gothenburg when they won the club’s first Champions League in an empty stadium due to COVID. “You nailed it,” the captain reminded the architect of the club’s professionalization, who after losing in Budapest in 2019 predicted they would win the title “in two years.” On Saturday, in Oslo, Alexia sought him out again in the crowd to share a meaningful embrace.
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This jersey cannot be defended halfway, and I admit I have given my all
“At 18 years old and a month after my worst family moment, life put Barça ahead of me again to be a player, and this time of the first team,” Alexia recalls in her farewell video, where she remembers her father, who had passed away by then and to whom she still dedicates all her successes. “I see as if it were now the proud face of my father saying he wouldn’t leave this world until he saw his daughter defend these colors with the first team. He was no longer there, but in my worst moment, I will always say that Barça saved me, which is why I will always be indebted to these colors.”
With her father and uncle, she experienced her first times at Camp Nou: “I only saw men, I never imagined that one day, right there, more than 90,000 culés would be chanting my name.”
She arrived at Barça at 18, with three years left before the club’s professionalization began, and will leave at 32 after taking it to the top, hegemonic in Spain and becoming the most powerful team in Europe.
New challenges
She changes Barça for Michele Kang’s London City Lionesses
On Sunday, the five thousand culé fans celebrating Barça’s fourth Champions League in Barcelona asked her to “Alexia, stay,” but the decision was made. The captain feels the end of a cycle has come and that it is time to give way to the next generations. She is eager to test herself in other contexts, to face new challenges like those offered by the English league. She will lead Michele Kang’s project at London City Lionesses, which she wants to qualify for the Champions League for the first time. The South Korean-born billionaire is also the owner of OL Lyonnes, Barça’s rival in the final and their main competitor in Europe. Kang has taken much of the talent that built this champion Barça in recent years: Jonatan Giráldez, Markel Zubizarreta, Jana Fernàndez… and now makes the decisive move by signing Alexia Putellas, the icon the English league lacked to take it to the next level.
Farewell event in the morning, and last match in the afternoon at Johan
This Wednesday, at 11 a.m. at Spotify Camp Nou, Alexia will receive recognition for her brilliant career at Barça, and in the afternoon she will play her last match wearing the blaugrana jersey at Johan Cruyff, against Real Sociedad.
In her farewell message, the eternal blaugrana footballer also remembers “those who paved the way and those who came after to write this eternal legacy,” and sends a message to the new generations: “To those coming after, you already know what I say: ‘The pressure of this jersey is a privilege.’ The future of the team is yours, and it will be up to you to make history in the best club in the world.”
“I have been and will always be one more culé like you, which is why I don’t want this to be a sad moment. This is just a stage that ends, but luckily I was born a culé and I will die a culé. We will see each other again. Long live Barça forever,” she concludes.
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