Blue Moon, Maroon Sun [Alexia Putellas x OC]

I

2021

Remember the name: Emilia Padilla.

The chants in the London stadium honoring her in the last match playing for the Red Devils were echoing in her head since she had left rainy England. Playing for Manchester United for the last three seasons had been a joy and had launched her career in a very positive way, putting her on the map as one of the best players of the moment. She had grown both mentally and in her football style and leaving Manchester was bittersweet.

But she knew that what was coming next would skyrocket her career in a way she wasn't even aware of. Premiere League was one of the top leagues in the world, as everyone knew. Still, the women's division, WSL - even though still great and pretty strong - wasn't close to that mark as the men's were. But many other teams around the world were working hard and changing those views, and right now Emilia needed another challenge, she needed to be even better, needed to move to a place where the grounds were tougher, harder, so she could improve more and more.

Barcelona could offer that.

When the opportunity was placed on her table, paper all scrambled around, her team talking her into it, telling her how Barcelona was eager to sign her and was doing everything to have her on the squad, she felt like she couldn't say no even if she wanted to.

But she didn't want to say no. Barcelona was a top team, she had been following them and was enchanted with their talent and hard work. Liga F was easily one of the best for women to play. The best players played there. She had been running from Spain and the Spanish teams for as long as she could, moving around Europe for a while, but this opportunity was maybe a once in a lifetime.

Her team told her that.

Her mom told her that.

Playing for Barcelona not only meant she could play for one of the best teams in the world, - opening so many doors for her career - but also meant she could be near her family. She had been away for so long, running around and settling whether in Germany or England, that she was rarely with her family for the last years.

And that was the other reason that weighed on her decision to accept that transfer.

United had confirmed the rumors of her departure by posting a series of posts thanking the Spaniard, highlighting her stats and contribution to the team in her time there. She had reposted everything in her stories, along with some fan posts of her goals, celebrations, and funny montages. Emilia had made a goodbye post of her own, thanking the team, the staff, and the fans for being so kind and receiving her with open arms, along with two pictures: one from behind, as she kneeled with her archer celebration, pointed to the sky, after scoring a goal, the crowd erupting in the background - Emmi 9 visible on her jersey - and the other one from the last match as she pointed to the fans in the stands with open arms.

Emilia was always known for being a clown and a force of positivity to work with. Her ultra-likable persona and genuine personality, added to her natural charisma and her valuables and beliefs, made her one of the most loved and respected players at the moment. Not a single person had a bad word to say about her, whether it was personally wise or work-wise. She was very much adored by everyone and was one of the most humble and down-to-earth people in the game.

So everyone in Manchester was very sad to lose a player and person like her. Ella Toone had cried like a baby, telling Emilia if her eyelashes were broken she would be the one paying for them. That was the level of sadness pretty much everyone on the team was. Alessia had made her promise she would call almost every day and promise to beat her if they got to Champions League and Mary agreed, saying she would save every shoot coming from her. Those were the three English women she was most close to in Manchester besides women from the opponent teams that she had also befriended along the way, like Leah Williamson who had become a very close friend. Also, there was her Spanish friend Ona who had joined last year, making her stay there more home-like. She had joked with her to join Barcelona but Ona was currently enjoying her playtime in Manchester to think about going back to her youth team.