If last year he entered the history of Spanish and world football, this Monday he has taken another step to become a legend. Alexia Putellas She has won her second Ballon d’Or. She has done it consecutively, which confirms her as the best player in the world and at the moment despite her long-term injury. The Théâtre Du Châtelet in Paris was the scene of the Queen’s coronation. The 42 goals and 23 assists that she has added this past season have raised her to the top despite falling to Barcelona in the Champions League final, a title that she did achieve the previous year. The midfielder missed the European Championship that England finally won due to a torn cruciate ligament in her left knee a few days before the start of the competition. An injury that will keep her off the pitch for most of this season. Precisely, her great rival in the glittering Parisian night was the Arsenal player Beth Mead, who won the continental tournament with England, in which he was the Golden Boot and MVP thanks to his six goals and five assists. Against Mead he played the fact of not having won titles with Arsenal, while Putellas raised a League in which all games were counted as victories, in addition to the Queen’s Cup and the Spanish Super Cup. The only blur at club level was the defeat against Olympique de Lyon (1-3) in the Champions League final.
It has been a gala full of stars, with the best players in the world, who have certified the potential of clubs like Lyonwhich has been the most represented club in the final list by the Ballon d’Or (Bacha, Endler, Macario, Renard and Hegerberg), which also has four footballers in Barcelona (Alexia, Rolfö, Oshoala and Aitana Bonmatí), in addition to Lucy Bronze, signed this season from Manchester City. Alexia has been the main star of this fourth edition of the women’s Ballon d’Or, which debuted her record with the Norwegian Ada Hegerberg in 2018 and the American Megan Rapinoe in 2019. After the gala was not held in 2020 due to the pandemic, Alexia Putellas has won the next two editions.
Apart from the prestigious individual award, last year was full of nominations and awards for the captain of Barcelona. She has been the top scorer in the Champions League with 11 goals, she was included in the ideal eleven of the European tournament and won the MVP, as well as scoring in the final, the semifinal and the quarterfinals. She also won at the end of August with the award for UEFA Best Playeralso for the second year in a row, which has largely catapulted it to this second Ballon d’Or.
His actions with the Spanish selection, of which she was captain until she was injured. He scored against Canada (1-0) and Germany (1-1) in the Arnold Cup, contributed to qualifying the national team for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand with four goals scored between September and November 2021 and also scored in the friendlies in preparation for the European Championship against Italy (1-1) and Brazil (1-1). Alexia has also been an indirect protagonist in the controversy that has surrounded the team of Jorge Vilda after he expressed his support for the 15 mutinous players, mostly from Barcelona, who asked not to be called up for the friendlies against Sweden and the United States. Alexia was not summoned due to injury but it will be necessary to see Vilda’s decision if the Catalan recovers in time for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next summer, since Irene Paredes and Jenni Hermoso did not sign the dissidents’ letter but they were excluded from the last call.
