The whys of Alexia's tears at the Camp Nou

BarcelonaBarça will play in another Champions League final again – the seventh in its history, the sixth consecutive one–. The Camp Nou filled up again with more than 60,000 people and Pere Romeu's team beat Bayern Munich (4-2) for the second time this season. The day after this historic feat, however, the spotlight has turned to Alexia Putellas. The player left the field emotional and rumors about the possibility of it being her last match at the Camp Nou have spread quickly. According to sources consulted by ARA, the explanation is that the tears were of relief after a week of great nervousness about what was at stake, nothing less than another European final. Winning the Champions League is always the team's priority objective. The captain has not yet decided her future, but she has always expressed her desire to continue if she considers herself to be at the highest level, they explain to this newspaper.

Minute 86. Ivana Projkovska shows the illuminated sign with the number 11. Alexia is the player chosen by Pere Romeu to leave the field of play. The Camp Nou begins to cheer and chant the name of the blaugrana captain –whose contract ends on June 30–, while Alexia hands over the captain's armband to Patri Guijarro. The player from Mollet del Vallès, visibly moved and holding back tears, leaves the pitch. "It has been a week in which I have had a bit of a hard time and I got emotional. The emotions I have held back all week have come out. It's not bad to show emotions," explained the player right after the match.

The frustration of Munich

The main reason for these tears is the frustration over the first leg at the Allianz Arena. In Munich, things did not go as planned. The 1-1 draw in the first leg did not guarantee a ticket to Oslo, the main objective of the season, and Alexia – who is very self-demanding – ended up with the feeling that she had not been able to help the team as much as she would have liked, according to sources consulted by ARA. The midfielder, moreover, had to take on a more central role in playmaking, in which she did not feel entirely comfortable. In this more advanced position, the Catalan footballer had to perform darker tasks, invisible to the general public. Proof of this discomfort is the conversation she had with Pere Romeu at the start of the second half.

On the return leg, the player from Mollet del Vallès was a key figure in both play and on the scoreboard, with a brace that brought the team closer to Oslo. At the moment of her substitution, Alexia felt a great sense of relief, hence the emotion she showed. Furthermore, the same sources state that nothing has yet been decided regarding her future. Both parties still need to sit down and talk, but the captain has always conveyed her desire to continue wearing the blaugrana jersey, as long as she feels she can perform at her best.

Barça will play another Champions League final, the seventh. "Emotion of so much appreciation, of achieving a goal we've had for a long time," Alexia added to 3Cat, who with the double against Bayern Munich has drawn level with César as the club's second top scorer (232 goals) only behind Leo Messi.

Some Ballon d'Or numbers

With the qualification for the final, Alexia Putellas continues to buy tickets for the Ballon d'Or. The blaugrana has accumulated 23 goals and 13 assists in 46 games this season and has recently become the player with the most titles with Barça, a total of 36, which could be 38 at the end of the season. The captain also equaled Leo Messi as the two blaugrana footballers with the most league titles, ten. "She is a great player, one of the best in the world. She has shown it in the match, she has scored two goals and has helped the team a lot. She has also helped me a lot as a player, she is like a sister," praised Clara Serrajordi, one of the young players who have consolidated this season in the first team.

Patri Guijarro, another of the captains, also highlighted Alexia's role after the match. "She is our leader. When she came to give me the armband, I told her she was the best and that we would manage to be in the final," commented the Balearic midfielder, who emphasized the pride of playing a European final for the sixth consecutive year.

At the press conference at the Camp Nou, Pere Romeu also explained the reasons for Alexia's substitution. "I am very happy with her game, but in the final stretch we were left with little energy in the midfield, and that is why I decided to bring in Kika Nazareth," argued a very assertive Romeu. "I absolutely do not care about the opinion of outsiders. I stick with the opinion of the coaching staff, players, and sporting management. One must have footballing criteria to be able to comment on things. That is why some of us are coaches and others are what they are," the coach assured emphatically after the criticism he has suffered over these two seasons at the helm of Barça's bench.