Barça, with Alexia Putellas, wins its fourth consecutive League

2023-04-30 17:51:25

Sant Joan DespíNor will it be this season that Real Madrid will come close to Barça’s level. The Blaugrana team is still in another dimension despite not having been able to count on Alexia Putellas until today due to his serious knee injury. In fact, he has completed the first 26 matches of Liga F with a full of triumphs, a streak that served him this Sunday to secure the title with four games to go before the end of the championship by winning 3-0 in the Sporting de Huelva in an almost full Johan Cruyff Stadium. This is the fourth consecutive League for Barça and the eighth in its history.

When she jumped onto the pitch today in the 74th minute – replacing Clàudia Pina, who has given her the captain’s armband -, Alexia was temporarily far away but emotionally very close to that training session with the Spanish national team at the beginning of July 2022 in who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee just days before the start of the Euros. Alexia’s last action with Barça before the injury was precisely against Sporting de Huelva. On May 29 of last year, he scored the last of the Blaugrana’s six goals in stoppage time in the Copa de la Reina final against the Andalusians in Alcorcón.

Alexia’s return was not long in coming. After being left with honey on their lips on Thursday at the Camp Nou in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals against Chelsea (Jonatan Giráldez considered that it was too demanding a context), in the second leg they were defeated. The two-time Ballon d’Or winner has returned to enjoy an official game before 10 months have passed since his injury. In the 59th minute, Alexia came out to warm up and received an ovation from the fans, who later chanted her name. The moment he chose for the climax was 15 minutes later. The whole of Johan Cruyff stood up to applaud her and mobile phones immortalized the long-awaited moment. The footballer from Mollet del Vallès, although she still lacks rhythm, has left details of her quality.

Barça did not have to force to take the three points in a match in which the Barça coach fielded a starting XI full of usually substitute footballers. None of today’s 11 started on Thursday. Sporting de Huelva, which has devoted itself to defending itself, has succeeded in making the game drowsy and the scoreboard did not open until the 39th minute, when Laia Codina finished off Clàudia Pina’s cross in the first touch. In the 63rd minute, Jana Fernández made it 2-0 with a shot from outside the area. Oshoala, with the toe, has sentenced in the 89th.

To finish with full of triumphs for the second year in a row

Barça have not lost in La Liga since June 1, 2021, when they fell 4-3 to Atlético de Madrid with the La Liga in their pocket and Lluís Cortés still occupying the Blaugrana bench. Since then, Barça has accumulated 61 consecutive victories, including today’s, a milestone that no professional team had achieved in the history of football. Thus, beyond the title secured this weekend, Jonatan Giráldez’s team has the challenge of ending the League with a full run of triumphs for the second season in a row. Their absolute dominance is also attested by the 108 goals in favor and only 5 against in the 26 games played so far.

But the big goal is to lift the second Champions League on June 3 in Eindhoven. Until then, there are four games left in which Alexia will have time to train in order to arrive in a good enough state of form to start at the Philips Stadion, where another massive displacement of the Blaugrana fans is expected. At the moment, the 3,400 tickets in the zone reserved for the supporters belonging to the first package that UEFA has put on sale have already been sold out. The club has assured that it will ask for more because the demand, as happened last year in Turin, is high. The Blaugrana’s opponent will be known tomorrow: Arsenal or Wolfsburg.