Real Madrid's new bogey team

Barcelona"Barça is her place in the world," says Piotr Kozłowski, Ewa Pajor's (Uniejow, 1996) first football coach. The Polish striker has hit the ground running in Barcelona: in just a season and a half, she has already scored 63 goals in 69 matches, but her qualities go far beyond finding the net. "Her team spirit stands out; she creates chances for her teammates and makes decisions that benefit the entire squad, not just her own statistics. If she were more selfish, she would have even more goals, but she has a sense of responsibility and maturity on the pitch that make her a complete and highly valued player," says Kozłowski, who worked with Pajor from the age of eight to twelve. Pere Romeu has also highlighted these qualities. "She goes into every match motivated, presses relentlessly, makes runs, gets into the box, and holds up the ball with her back to goal. I really enjoy coaching her; she always performs at her best, and if she could, she would provide more assists."

The high number of goals is nothing new. At Wolfsburg, before signing for Barça, she scored 136 in 196 matches, but despite being at two clubs that have dominated the European scene, the Champions League has always eluded her. The Polish footballer has played in five finals, but has always lost. She lost four with Wolfsburg – one of them against Barça in Eindhoven, where Pajor scored the opening goal, but Barça came back to win – and another with the Catalan club last season in Lisbon. These disappointments have helped her grow and continue improving. "Her character, her life experiences, and her high athletic level have brought her to where she is today," explains Kozłowski. This evolution has allowed Pajor to play with more confidence, be more effective, and have a greater influence on matches. "She has a great understanding of the game and now makes decisions very quickly. She's more mature on the field, reads situations better, anticipates her opponents' movements, and is able to choose the most appropriate solution in just a few seconds," says Kozłowski, who runs a football academy, Uniejowska Akademia Futboluska (Uniójów Pajor & Tarczyńska & Smolarek). Proof of this is her ability to score the first goal of the match, the most difficult one. In the first part of the season, the Polish player opened the scoring seven times, six of them in consecutive matches.

Blue and red hegemony

This Thursday (9 pm), Barça visits Real Madrid's stadium for the quarterfinals of the Copa de la Reina. A single-leg tie with one clear objective: to reach the semifinals of the competition. to continue competing for all titles after winning the Spanish Super Cup against Madrid (2-0)A favorable opponent for Pajor, who since arriving at Barça has become their new nemesis. The striker, with nine goals, is the second-highest scorer in Clásicos, surpassed only by Alexia Putellas (12). However, Pajor has only played seven times against Real Madrid – the team against which she has scored the most goals in a Barça shirt – while Putellas has played seventeen matches. To date, the two clubs have faced each other 23 times – counting the first two encounters when the Madrid team played under the name and crest of Tacón – with 22 wins for the Catalan side and only one victory for Real Madrid. Barça has scored 88 goals across all Clásicos, while Real Madrid has only managed 11. These figures demonstrate the clear gap between the two clubs. However, Pere Romeu is neither taking anything for granted nor relaxing his focus. "It's the toughest match against Real Madrid; we're playing in their stadium, and it's a one-off. They've been making changes, and each Madrid-Barça match is becoming more evenly matched. If we play as a team, we'll be closer to tipping the scales in our favor."