Women’s Day Special: Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas is the moment of Women’s Football

Barcelona number 11 has accumulated a series of ‘first evers’ and is in curiosity for more.

Alexia Putellas has proven to the football gender critics that she is here to stay. The Barca numero 11 is the first Spanish woman in the world to be crowned the best footballer in Europe. She has gone on to win the Champions League and Copa de la Reina along with being named the UEFA women’s player of the year with the Ballon d’Or accolade in 2021, being the third only female player to do so, making it so far the best season of the 28-year-old.

Barcelona feminine beat Chelsea 4-0 in the final to take on the Champions League title for the year while she was named the MVP in the Copa de la Reina after scoring twice. The Catalunya giants bagged most awards for the same year as well. “We are very happy that your excellence, work and effort are being recognized”,  wrote Joan Laporta, the President of the ever so great Spanish club.

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The previous season saw Alexia scoring in the WCL, finding the net a total of 26 times, providing about 16 assists in the Spanish club final and a penalty in the Champions League victory against Chelsea. The star had also had a projection of her image on the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa, for her accolades all together this season, being the first-ever woman to be recognised in this manner. “I only realised I was on the Burj Khalifa when I looked at my phone. That’s pretty cool for the visibility of our sport”, she added speaking about the growing need for sustainable and continued support for women in sport, especially football. In an interview with The Player’s Tribune, she admitted that even though growing up she was the only girl to play at the park with boys, it was never a problem for her and that it shouldn’t be for anyone. The new generation should normalise this, football belongs to everyone, she concluded.