“Many countries have been with fights that the players have made, and that is an extra effort”

2023-08-20 17:15:44

20/08/2023

Updated at 5:16 p.m.

He arrived as the Ballon d’Or, but with a still pending injury to his knee. Evolution and game times were measured. Fifteen minutes one game, half an hour another, trying the leg, the rapport with the teammates, a year without training, which is very noticeable in an elite player. And she wanted not to expose herself more than necessary, just the minutes on the pitch and smiles as she passed through the mixed zone without stopping. Until today, with the gold medal hanging around her neck, she with the title of world champion already on her resume, Alexia Putellas speak. And she remembered those that were before: «I am happy for all the people who feel part of this, for my family. It has been a very hard year. For all the colleagues, the pioneers who have contributed. Let them feel it theirs, “explained the double winner of the Ballon d’Or.

She was asked about the role she has taken on in this World Cup, with fewer brilliant moments, but cheers for everyone in the goals and celebration as one more. «I do not understand this of secondary or main roles. Where we are all happiest is playing on the green. But this is football and one day it’s up to you and another day to another. For me there is something key that is respect between us and camaraderie. I am happy for the one who scored the goal to be in the Euro Cup ten years ago and we must be happy for the one who scores now.

She does not remember exactly what she thought as soon as the referee whistled the end, but she did have tears: “Surely I have started crying, like lately,” she joked. She also does not remember the external pressure that she has been under in the last year. She is an elite player. She goes at the price she must pay.

He explained this hard year emotionally and physically, which go hand in hand: «This year has been a master’s degree for me, I have learned a lot about how this industry is going. Getting to know another side of soccer, I don’t want to say soccer because it’s an industry. Before it was playing every three days, but I’ve been standing still for a year and you open your eyes and you see many things and you know how everything is going. It is learning. I’ll stick with that.”

And he also sent a message after all this complicated course with claims from the players: «Personally it makes me angry because it seems that it is not a one-site thing, it is very repetitive. Fifa has to realize. Many countries have been with fights carried out by the players, and that is an extra effort. The players have to focus on taking care of themselves and training and leaving everything on the field. All the energy that you channel into strategic plans and others you lose. We are players, someone has to do that. And it has been seen that at the minimum that a little is created and provided with basic facilities, it can be achieved ».

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