The most productive defeat in Barça's history

Sant Cugat del Vallès"Don't tell us it's impossible, tell us to do it," Alexia Putellas said jokingly with a member of thestaff Barça's. The Mollet-born footballer spoke these words one day after the team lifted its first Champions League trophy. A member of the Barça coaching staff had previously dismissed the 2011 victory in Gothenburg as "impossible." Four years after reaching the Swedish sky, journalist Maria Tikas, a leading figure in Barça coverage, chronicles the evolution of this winning group in the book Don't tell us it's impossible (Barça Books - Dome).

Throughout the story, Tikas aims to give readers a firsthand look at the players who are aiming to win their third consecutive Champions League title against Arsenal this Saturday (6 p.m. on TV3). "This book is about that. It allows people to get to know their most human and least perfect selves. Also, their moments of weakness," the Valles native tells ARA. Her intention is to "humanize a team that seems inhuman" and capture "a historic moment that we will remember for years."

Tikas narrates the construction of an invincible team while reliving the untold anecdotes of the Barça players and coaches. The story she tells ranges from Barça's resounding defeat in the 2019 Budapest final (4-1 to Olympique Lyonnais) to establishing themselves as the best team in the world, when they won their second consecutive Champions League title last year at San Mamés. According to the writer, Budapest is the turning point. "It's the moment of unity between the coaching staff and the players. All parties involved begin to work hard," she comments.

The journalist follows the daily life of the Barça women's team in the newspaper Sport and she values getting to know the players up close. "It's important that they feel comfortable sharing anecdotes they've never shared before. In a media interview, they're more cautious, but these conversations have been more relaxed," the writer confesses. However, the writer believes the main challenge in constructing the story has been time. "I've interviewed a lot of people, and that takes time. You can't start writing until you've completed all the interviews. You need all the players' versions first," Tikas assures.

The club, along with the publishing house Barça Books, made her a proposal. "They wanted me to write a book explaining the successes of the Barça women's team, but they didn't give me any instructions," explains Tikas. In this sense, the writer wanted to review recent moments in Blaugrana history through the players' experiences. "People already know we've won three Champions League titles. My idea was to show what goes on behind the scenes, the anecdotes and stories that no one sees," she explains.

Barça women's team: how to build an invincible team

"I left Barça because I saw the players taking photos with the silver medal," confessed former Barça player Toni Duggan in an interview with The Guardian, after leaving Barcelona for the 2018-2019 season. However, the team quickly adopted the competitive drive they'd seen in recent years. "Their never-satisfied mentality has led them to success. They needed to believe in themselves and visualize that they could do it," says Tikas.

Despite the signing of some renowned players to bolster the project (Lieke Martens in 2017 and Kira Hamraoui in 2018), lifting the Champions League trophy was a long-term goal. "After losing the 2019 final against Olympique Lyonnais, the team saw winning the big-eared trophy as impossible." According to Tikas, the keys to the Barça women's team's evolution are a change in mentality and physical work. "The 2019 team that lost to Lyon and the one that won the final against Chelsea have the same players. There's a change in the football dynamic, the physical work, and the mentality of the players," the writer assesses.

In this sense, Don't tell us it's impossible explains how the players, coaching staff and managers have become more involved in a common goal: to be more competitive. Alexia Putellas, Aitana Bonmatí, Luis Cortés, Jonatán Giráldez, Markel Zubizarreta... They all wanted to change the dynamic. They were careful to add more people to the team.staff, work longer hours and change some of the facility conditions.

"The difficult thing is not reaching the top, but staying there."

"We'd all heard that the Blaugranas were the reigning champions, but they hadn't even won in Lyon yet," says Tikas. Last year, when Barça lifted the Champions League title at San Mamés against the French team, a European reign was broken. Furthermore, as the writer points out, in Bilbao, Barça became the best team in history on a social level, with packed stadiums and massive crowds.

"With the Women's Champions League final just around the corner, I'm not even aware that I've published a book," she declares. Ahead of Saturday's match against Arsenal, the journalist believes Barça is the favorite and asserts that Arsenal lacks experience in big matches. "Barça has improved a lot and has learned to live with adversity," says Tikas.