Alexia and the afterlife of football

Play on dirt fields.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
27 April 2023 Thursday 12:26
41 Reads
Alexia and the afterlife of football

Play on dirt fields. To vindicate themselves at school because they also wanted that ball. Work or study because what are you going to live on if this football thing is only for them? Soccer players like Aitana, Mariona, Alexia or Mapi León know very well what the film is about. They are not alone. Resilience, that ability to adapt to adversity and that little by little, based on demonstration, allows you to make a hole for yourself, is a value that they share with Harder, Erikssen, Berger and all those soccer players (and women) who want to be professionals. respected.

The 72,262 people who attended the Camp Nou also know it. And the 27,697 who went to Stamford Bridge. Or the 87,192 that vibrated with the final of the 2022 women's Eurocup at Wembley. It is an empowered public. One of those that vibrates with each play. Of those who know the hymns by heart. But it has a different essence that excites. The one that conveys that women's football has finally come to light from the shadows in which it has grown. There are families, grandfathers, grandmothers, children and yes, also many girls who proudly wear the shirts of their idols. They all live the appointment delivered to the ball. But also to a social movement that, beyond the goals, seeks to sentence another type of marker: that of equality.

Little by little the sun is leaving. The sunset and the end of the game is near. The Camp Nou is dyed a beautiful orange and the public bid farewell to the game with a light show and one last request. They claim her. To the queen. To which she has won everything. To which she represents and transmits all that struggle in every step she takes, whether she is injured or not. But the time is not yet. Alexia Putellas, called up 295 days after being injured, remains on the bench. Thanks to her companions, Eindhoven awaits her. And with them and the fans celebrate it in style. Solidarity is another of her virtues.