Alexia Putellas: ‘It hasn’t really sunk in yet’

After winning the women’s Ballon d’or, Barcelona and Spain’s Alexia Putellas added the Player of the Year award at FIFA’s Best

Published : Feb 02, 2022 16:30 IST

Spain and Barcelona midfielder Alexia Putellas was honoured as The Best FIFA Women’s Player for the year 2021.

After winning the women’s Ballon d’or, Barcelona and Spain’s Alexia Putellas added the Player of the Year award at FIFA’s Best Awards to her trophy cabinet to cap a memorable 2021.

The midfielder has been key to both her national and club team’s success. She played a crucial role in helping Barcelona clinch a historic treble — the Spanish League, UEFA Women’s Champions League and the Copa de la Reina.

Barcelona won 30 of its 31 games in 2021 which featured Putellas with the 27-year-old scoring 22 goals through the season.

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The Spanish national team was also unbeaten in 2021. Putellas spoke about the season gone by and what the future holds at club and national level.

This turned out to be the best season of your career so far, isn’t it? You’ve won almost everything and played brilliantly for the Spanish national side.

Ultimately, it’s about taking each day as it comes. I’m not sure 2021 has really sunk in for me yet, neither have the last few months, really. When you put in the work and people have faith in you, the results come. That’s how it was for me. We won pretty much everything last season and hopefully we’ll do that again this year.

Spain’s Jennifer Hermoso was one of the other finalists alongside Australia’s Sam Kerr. Has there been a passing of the torch in women’s football? Has the era of Spanish women begun?

I’ve always said Spain has a lot of natural talent. It’s no coincidence that Barcelona had so much success last season, and now the team is being recognised in the individual awards nominations. All we needed was a project and a bit of time to reach the highest level.

What do you hope for from the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand?

Well, I think every World Cup is better than the one before it. Everything is evolving, and I’m sure that, within the next two, three or five years, women’s football will look totally different to how it does now.