Alexia Putellas
Updated: Wikipedia source
Alèxia Putellas i Segura (Catalan pronunciation: [əˈlɛksiə puˈteʎə səˈɣuɾə] (); Spanish: Alexia Putellas Segura; born 4 February 1994), often known mononymously as Alexia, is a Spanish professional footballer from Catalonia who plays as a midfielder or forward for Liga F club Barcelona, which she captains, and the Spain women's national team. She previously played for Espanyol and Levante, and has represented Catalonia. Having won all major club and most of the individual awards available to a European player by 2022, she is widely regarded as one of the greatest female footballers of all time. Putellas started her youth career at CE Sabadell, passing through Barcelona before she moved to Espanyol, where she played most of her youth football. After a year at Levante she returned to Barcelona in 2012, where she has won eight league titles, eight Copas de la Reina and three UEFA Women's Champions League trophies. In Barcelona's 2020–21 season, she played an essential role as her team won the Champions League as well as the resulting continental treble, both for the first time in their history. Putellas then went on to win the UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award, the Ballon d'Or Féminin, and The Best FIFA Women's Player in 2021, becoming the first player to win all three in the same year. In 2022, despite missing the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 due to an ACL injury, she won all three awards again, becoming the first woman to win any of them in consecutive years. Barcelona won the league and Champions League again in 2022–23, though Putellas was largely absent with the injury, before taking the continental quadruple in 2023–24. On the international stage, Putellas had success with Spain's youth national teams, winning two UEFA Women's U-17 Euros (in 2010 and 2011) as well as finishing third in the 2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup and second in the 2012 UEFA Women's U-19 Euro. She made her debut for Spain's senior national team for the 2013 UEFA Women's Euro, and has since featured in four other major international competitions with the team: Spain's FIFA Women's World Cup debut in 2015, the 2017 Euro, the 2019 World Cup and the 2023 World Cup that Spain won. She captained Spain during the 2023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League, which they also won. As of October 2023, Putellas has the second-most all-time appearances for Barcelona behind former left-back Melanie Serrano, and is their all-time top goalscorer. She is the record holder for most Spain appearances, having surpassed Marta Torrejón's previous record of 90 caps in 2021, and became the first player to make over 100 appearances for the Spain women's team, which she achieved in 2022.