January 23rd, 2022, La Ciudad de Futbol de Las Rozas
Final Day. The nerves are at their best while we are standing near the bench. Alexia is doing the toss with the referees. When she runs back to us, she gives the Atlético sign to Jon and comes to me. As usual, we hug, I kiss her neck, and she kisses my forehead.
"We got it." She states reassuringly.
I nod and go to my spot. As Jon wished, we are playing as a 4-4-2. Sandra in goal, Frida, Jana, Irene and Marta behind, Lieke, Alexia, Patri and Caro in the midfield, Jennifer and I upfront.
As soon as we start, we are pressing very high, Atlético didn't think we could go so high so soon and they struggle to adapt. Caro manages to have a corner after a great cross around the 15th minute. Jennifer takes it and plays it quickly with Caro and Lieke, training rehearsal. As Jennifer has the ball back, she looks in the box and sees Frida all alone. The cross is perfect, and I watch Frida's header being saved by the goalkeeper as I am standing in front of the goal. I just have the time to realize what is happening and send the ball in the net. 1-0. All the girls come to me, and we agree on keeping up.
At the 17th minute, Jennifer almost scores after we use one of our training routines. A couple minutes later, we obtain a great freekick near the box after Maitane Lopez tackled Alexia from behind pretty hard. Caro hands me the ball and I look at her weirdly.
"You won the challenge. You are the one taking this one." She winks at me.
"You weren't joking about it?" I ask unsure.
"Go on, love." Alexia walks to me. "You're the best at those. And you must avenge me. Did you see that tackle?" She winks and I chuckle.
"If it's for you, I have to take it, right?" I roll my eyes, and she laughs.
"I stay with you to make them confused." She states focusing back.
I nod and look at the goal. The goalkeeper only asks for four girls in front of her, which makes it easier for me. Jennifer stands in front of the wall and tells me to look at their height which I nod at. Those girls aren't really tall, leaving space to make the ball go down in time, I've got it. The referee whistles and I decide to put a bit of power in my shot, but not too much. The ball flies straight to the open side of the goal, and the goalkeeper is too short to have it as my ball is perfectly placed in the top corner. I celebrate and Alexia jumps on my shoulders. Everyone joins us and is really happy.
"We should compete for it more often." I wink at Caro.
"You better enjoy your only freekick goal, then." She messes with my hair, and we go back to our side.
Then, we control the game, we are moving perfectly together, and we are causing real problems to our opponents with our high pressing. At the 27th minute, Patri gets a ball from Jana, she is near the left line. She manages to dribble one Atlético girl and goes forward. We know the drill, it's the same thing we did in training. Patri goes inside with the ball, and I do my crossed run. She gives me the ball perfectly and I cross in one touch at the second post. I don't really need to look to know Caro is going to be here to score. I put my hands in the air already before seeing Caro tackles the ball in the net. 3-0. I turn to Patri, and we hug happily.
"Seems like Jon's ideas work too." She excitedly states.
I laugh at my friend, and we join the others. This is going to be fun after all. My confidence is sky high, and it shows. I win all the balls I'm going for, and my passes are always on point. I'm getting along well with Jennifer, Lieke and Alexia on the left side. At half time, we discuss some moves we need to do more often, and Jon warns us he is going to take Alexia off the pitch at some point, so I'll have to go back to the midfield with Patri, Asisat taking my spot in front.
Once we are back on the pitch, I can feel Alexia wants to give all she has before being substituted. As she is our playmaker, it almost feels immediately when she picks up the pace. We have a freekick really early in the second half, and Alexia doesn't wait for anyone to be ready except Caro who must have felt the same way I did about Alexia's behavior. I watch Caro runs in the box, as I am standing next to Alexia and Patri. Caro crosses beautifully for Frida who is alone at the second post.
"Genius." I whisper in Alexia's ear as I hug her tightly.
"First title, girls." Patri jumps on us. "Nice thought, captain."
"I'm so glad to be a part of it." Alexia states and hugs us more.
We run to the other girls and gather telling each other words of encouragement. Three minutes after, we do it again, this time Caro concludes another great team move. Almost the entire team had touched the ball, but a defender intercepted and lost it immediately, Patri managing to send Marta in deep. Marta crossed to Caro, who put her head on the ball. 5-0. Then, it is just casual things for us. Jon makes the substitutions, and Alexia leaves the field with her knee clearly hurting her.
I take her spot and try to do as well as she does. I really do well, but maybe too well, as I am frustrating our opponents a lot. At the 73rd minute, I do a clever one-two with Patri in the midfield, then I nutmeg one girl and pass the ball to Caro, but their defender, Merel Van Dongen, arrives too late and makes me fly in the air. I land badly on my shoulder and stay on the ground.
"Damn, are you okay?" Merel wonders. "Does your shoulder hurt?"
"I'll be fine..." I frown not even believing myself and making the referee call the doctors.
I do some tests and the doctor asks for the substitution. I try to make them change their minds, but Jon doesn't want to take any risks, and makes Ingrid enter the pitch. I am absolutely gutted, and it shows as I shot in my bottle on the side of the field. I walk slowly to the bench, and Alexia walks to me with a jacket. She doesn't say anything, she doesn't need to, she just hugs me, and kisses my temple. We walk back to the bench, and I sit next to her. A couple girls try to comfort me, and slowly I calm down, enjoying the fact I'll win my first trophy with Barcelona.
I don't really follow the end of the game as my eyes are glued to the ground, but I feel Alexia standing up. I look at her walking to the side of the pitch, and I understand Virginia is going to enter. I smile widely seeing my friend back to business. I stand up and whistle making her look at me. I give her thumbs up and she sends me a kiss. I sit back and wait for Alexia to come back.
"How's the shoulder?" She finally asks.
"Better, it hurt on the moment, I am good now." I reassure her. "How's the knee?"
"You were right, I need to rest..." She sighs. "It's killing me."
"I'll take care of you, when we go back home." I take her hand and kiss her knuckles.
"You better." She winks at me.
YOU ARE READING
Las Estrellas (Alexia Putellas x OC)
FanfictionA story about Alexia Putellas because she is really great. My OC is a woman, football player, I'll describe her to you in the first chapter. I hope you'll like the story. I might not end it but it's worth to start so enjoy :)
