"I saw a huge bottleneck in the first team and felt I had to leave Barça."

BarcelonaThere's life beyond Barça. This is what Ari Mingueza (Santa Perpetua de Mogoda, 2003) has learned after three years at Granada. The Catalan midfielder followed in the footsteps of her brother, Óscar Mingueza – who had swapped Barcelona for Vigo – and tried a new adventure in the First Division. "I left because I saw a huge bottleneck in the first team and I felt I had to leave Barça. Perhaps if I had stayed, the opportunity would have come here, because in the last two years they've had to let go of a lot of players from the youth academy, but I think everything happens for a reason and now I'm very happy," the player explains to ARA. But it was a decision in which Óscar played an important role. "I was afraid because I had never left home, I had been here all my life and it was very difficult for me to take the step. I talked to him and he told me that life wasn't over at Barça and that opening doors now could open more for me in the future," she recalls.

Mingueza is now enjoying herself at Granada, a team that's in top form this season. "Leaving home isn't easy, but I felt I had to take the step, and here in Granada, they welcomed me with open arms from the very beginning. I left as a girl, and now I'm a woman," she says. After a difficult start to the season, Irene Ferreras's team has racked up five wins and a draw and remains undefeated in La Liga this year. "The first part of the season wasn't easy; we couldn't find a way for everyone to feel comfortable, but by working hard every week and training to the fullest, the results have come." This Saturday, however, they face Barça at the Nuevo Los Cármenes stadium (6:15 p.m.). "Playing against them is always very difficult, and we know they're the best team in the world, but when you're on a good run, you always compete better because you're in a state where, subconsciously, things just fall into place," explains the Catalan player.

In Granada, she found a coach who helped her grow a lot, Arturo Ruiz. "Last year, with him, I took a very important step in the First Division," she says. The footballer also highlights the figure of Miguel Llorente, with whom she coincided at Barça B. "He was my coach in the reserve team when I debuted with the first team. I also have a lot of affection for Lluís Cortés, who gave me the opportunity and relied on me a lot," she recalls.

The journeys to La Masia

Ari Mingueza joined FC Barcelona in 2015 in the U12 category and rose through the ranks to become captain of the Barça B team that won the Second Division. "Barça has the best youth academy in the world, and it's very important to look to our own youth system; there are some very good players. I was captain when Aïcha Camara and Clara Serrajordi were starting to come through, and I couldn't be happier that they're now in the first team," she says. The former Barça player also confesses that, although she was "very young," she learned a lot in her first years at the club. "I compare my fourth season with my first, and you can see an incredible difference. They teach you so many things, and I have lifelong friends who are from my early years at Barça," she explains.

However, it wasn't all roses and roses. When there was training, their parents had to drive them to Barcelona, ​​while their brother could travel in taxis provided by the club. "The parents of the other girls who were more or less from the area took turns driving us. The first few years we finished at eleven at night and it was crazy, but you can see that progress is being made and these things are starting to change." Mingueza is referring to the fact that young female footballers can now live at La Masia. In her case, she was only able to study for her baccalaureate, a "great advantage" for her.

The two siblings were able to fulfill a dream: playing together at Barça. Óscar debuted with the men's first team on November 24, 2020, in Kyiv. 102 days later, on March 6, 2021, Ari Mingueza did the same with the women's team. In her case, it was in Badajoz. "He was special to us and to the family, but subconsciously it was just routine and we didn't fully appreciate it. We have a very good relationship and I still ask him for advice, although I also take his picture when he lets me. He knows he's always been a role model for me," recalls Ari Mingueza, who admits that many times she's no longer herself. "When people hear my last name, they subconsciously associate me with him, but I'm increasingly recognized by my own name," she says.