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She’s creating a (Los Galaticos) situation, and just because you have amazing players in one team, it does not mean it will be successful. They will have to be able to manage all the ego and competitiveness within the team for it to be able to succeed.

What touched me the most was hearing her speak about her father. I cried watching those moments, thinking I couldn’t imagine carrying a loss like that or surviving it. Then, only days later, I understood that pain myself.

Since then, I’ve felt connected to Alexia in ways I never expected. Life is so short, and nothing is guaranteed. I think we are incredibly lucky that our generation got to witness her — not just the footballer she became, but the person she is.

It’s bittersweet, because part of me wishes stories like this never had to end. But maybe this really is how it was supposed to be. Maybe Alexia was never meant to retire at Barcelona if she knew she could no longer give 100% of herself. She’s exhausted, she’s given everything, and now she’s making room for the next generation she helped build.

And because of that, this truly feels like what she called it: a perfect story

And somehow, that makes it hurt even more.

Because she didn’t leave out of anger, or ego, or because she stopped loving Barça. She left because she loves Barça too much to ever give it anything less than every part of herself. That is who Alexia is. She would never allow herself to become comfortable wearing that badge if she felt she could no longer be 100% for the club of her life.

That level of honesty is rare. That level of selflessness is even rarer.

I think Alexia understood something most people never could: Barcelona is bigger than any one person, even someone as eternal as her. She saw the club growing, evolving, becoming the future she helped build with her own hands, and she was brave enough to step aside so others could have the opportunity to rise too. Not because she was forced to. Because she is a captain in the purest sense of the word.

Selfless. Honest. Mature. Brave.

If anything, it feels like the final act of her captaincy. A captain thinking beyond herself.

A lot of legendary players stay until the club has to make the painful decision for them. Alexia choosing to step away while still protecting the standard of Barça feels incredibly self-aware and selfless. She knows the club is evolving. She knows younger players need space to grow into leaders too. And instead of forcing herself to remain untouchable, she chose dignity, honesty, and love over comfort.

And maybe that’s why this goodbye feels impossible to accept. Players leave clubs every day, but this feels like losing a piece of Barça itself. Alexia wasn’t just part of an era — she was the era. She carried this team through pain, pressure, injuries, expectations, history, and glory. She gave this club her youth, her loyalty, her mentality, her soul.

She gave everything.

There will never be another Alexia Putellas. And maybe that’s why this hurts like a nightmare none of us want to wake up to.

I may not like the club she’s rumored to join, but I will follow her story wherever it goes. I will support her, because legends deserve that loyalty in return. And somehow, I’ll have to learn to live with the reality that she will no longer wear the blaugrana jersey.

None of us truly know what happens behind the scenes, but I don’t believe this decision is only about money. As a woman in football, financial security matters, and maybe she also sees something in that club that others don’t yet see — potential, ambition, a future she wants to help build.

But selfishly, I will miss her.

I will miss seeing Alexia in blaugrana on matchdays. I will miss the tracksuit walks into the stadium, the way she kissed the crest, the way she bowed her head to the culers after another magical night at the Johan or Camp Nou. I will miss the feeling of knowing our captain was there.

What a beautiful, heartbreaking end to an era.