Alexia, ‘The Queen’ who took Barça from anonymity to glory

To talk about Alexia Putellas is to talk about the transformation of Barça Femení, about how a teenager who arrived at the club in 2012, when the section was just taking its first steps towards professionalization and was still looking from afar at the great European powers, ended up becoming the captain, reference and visible face of a team that leaves it as four-time European champion and absolute dominator of Spanish football.

Alexia Putellas Segura (Mollet del Vallès, February 4, 1994) brought to a close this Tuesday an unrepeatable stage in the club of her life after fourteen seasons in which she not only accumulated titles, goals and records, but also helped to change the dimension of Barça Femení forever.

When he arrived from Levante at just 18 years old, the Blaugrana team was still an almost amateur section looking to gain a foothold on the national scene. When he leaves, at the end of this historic 2025/2026 season, he leaves an entity that has become a world reference.

Captain, leader and symbol of a historic generation, Alexia has been a direct protagonist of the most glorious era ever experienced by Barça Femení. She leaves after winning, and lifting when she has been captain, 30 major official titles, including 10 Leagues, 10 Queen’s Cups, 6 Spanish Super Cups and 4 Champions Leagues, a collection of successes that summarizes better than any speech her growth and, with it, that experienced by the entity.

But the Catalan’s mark goes far beyond the trophies. Her career is also the story of a footballer who grew at the same pace as Spanish women’s football itself. Of that girl who played with boys in the schoolyard and who trained in Sabadell, Espanyol and Levante before finding her home in Barcelona. About a player who helped break down barriers when female soccer players still barely had media visibility and who ended up becoming one of the country’s greatest sports icons.

Her talent with her left foot, her ability to interpret the game, her arrival in the area and her leadership soon made her the team’s compass. Alexia could play on the outside, as a midfielder or in the center of the field, but above all she stood out for her ability to make those around her better. A footballer capable of seeing passes where others only found closed spaces and of appearing in decisive moments with goals of enormous importance.

The definitive explosion came in the 2020/2021 season, when she led Barça to the first treble in its history and to the first Women’s Champions League won by a Spanish entity. That Göteborg final against Chelsea marked a before and after for the club and for national football, with Alexia scoring one of the goals in the historic victory.

A SERIOUS INJURY DIDN’T STOP HER

From then on came the individual recognitions that confirmed what was already evident on the pitch. In 2021 she became the first Spaniard to win the UEFA Best Player in Europe award and, months later, the first Spanish footballer to win the Ballon d’Or. An award that she revalidated in 2022 to definitively enter history as the first Spanish player capable of winning the trophy twice and the first woman to achieve it consecutively. Although shortly after her teammate Aitana Bonmatí took that record away from her by winning three Ballon d’Ors.

However, the career of Alexia, ‘The Queen’, was not without difficulties. When she was probably in the best moment of her career, a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee suffered in July 2022, just a few days before the start of the Euro Cup, forced her to stop for almost ten months. The injury kept her off the playing field and prevented her from playing in a continental event that she had planned for years.

Far from giving up, Alexia turned recovery into another personal challenge. He returned in April 2023 and, although he needed time to recover his best version, he ended up starring in one of the great stories of resilience in Spanish sport. In the 2024 Champions League final against Lyon, he scored the goal that certified the third ‘culer’ continental crown and once again became a fundamental piece of a team accustomed to winning.

The 2025/2026 season was the definitive confirmation of that return. Once again a football and emotional reference in the locker room, she led the team to the second consecutive title in its history, with the League, Cup, Super Cup and Champions League. In addition, she was chosen Champions League Player of the Season for the second time after scoring seven goals and seven assists in the top continental competition.

During all those years, Alexia was accumulating records. She became Barça Femení’s all-time top scorer, one of the players with the most appearances and the most successful player in the history of the section. She was also the first scorer at the Estadi Johan Cruyff and the Spotify Camp Nou in the modern era of Blaugrana women’s football, stages that she helped fill when few imagined that tens of thousands of fans would come to see a women’s team.

But perhaps his greatest legacy is something else. The Catalan belongs to that generation of pioneers that transformed the perception of women’s football in Spain. A soccer player admired by girls who today dream of reaching where she arrived and who grew up watching how a player born in Mollet del Vallès conquered the world from Barça.

Nor can its history be understood without the Spanish team. An absolute international since 2013, double European under-17 champion, a reference for more than a decade and the first Spanish footballer to reach 100 caps, the Catalan found her great reward in 2023 by becoming world champion with Spain in Australia and New Zealand. He was also part of the team that won the Nations League and competed in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Now, with a new stage ahead of her away from Barcelona, ​​Alexia Putellas leaves behind the club to which she dedicated half her life. The captain of an unrepeatable generation is leaving, the double Ballon d’Or winner, the footballer who helped turn an emerging project into a world power. In short, ‘The Queen’ who took Barça from anonymity to glory is leaving.