Meet the teenager tasked with filling Alexia Putellas’ boots at Barcelona
· Yahoo Sports
“They’re the best in the world; they prove it every year by playing so well. I mean … we play very well,” Clara Serrajordi said with a laugh after reaching the Champions League final at Camp Nou last May, beating Bayern Munich in last season’s semi-finals.
The 18-year-old midfielder’s confusion with “they” and “we” makes sense. Until last season, she was on the outside looking in.
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Serrajordi was used to watching the first team from her home at La Masia, the famed Barcelona youth academy known for fostering top talent in the club’s pipeline. The team’s six previous Champions League final appearances were games she only saw from afar. Less than a decade ago, she waited anxiously in the stands to see if the team’s all-time leading goalscorer, Alexia Putellas, would take a photo with her.
But in the span of a year, her daydreams became a reality.
She has gone from taking photos with Putellas to forming the starting midfield trio alongside her and Patri Guijarro — both of whom she calls her big sisters. Together they won Liga F, Copa de la Reina, the Spanish Super Cup and the Champions League.
Next season, she will face yet another tall task, becoming her idol’s successor after Putellas’ recent move to England’s London City Lionesses. It requires filling the shoes of a player who spent 14 years at Barcelona, won 38 trophies and is the club’s joint-second highest all-time scorer, alongside Cesar Rodriguez on 232 goals, trailing only Lionel Messi (672).
Barcelona knew players like Putellas, Mapi Leon and Ona Batlle would leave and wanted to protect itself from yet another offseason of departures. However, without the financial resources to sign players without restraint, Barcelona are limited by an economic crisis affecting the entire club.
Instead, they looked to players coming through from La Masia. Players like Serrajordi.
Serrajordi passed her first test, replacing Bonmati, the current Ballon d’Or holder, after she suffered a transverse fracture of her left fibula in November and was out until May. The youngster stepped up for her club and made her debut for Spain’s senior national team aged 17.
In the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals, she controlled both legs against Bayern Munich from the centre of midfield. After that 5-3 aggregate victory, at the age of 18 and 167 days, she became the youngest Barcelona player to start a Champions League final against OL Lyonnes in Oslo.
She played 42 matches in her first season with the senior team, starting 25, scoring twice and providing two assists. Her achievements make her a clear contender to succeed team-mate Vicky Lopez as the next Golden Girl, the annual award given to the best female under-21 football player in Europe.
Some within the club describe Serrajordi as a cross between Putellas and Guijarro. They even joke that she looks like a combination of the two. Though she started as an attacking midfielder, in recent years in Barcelona’s youth teams, she has played as a defensive midfielder.
Described as having a powerful physique, keen ball-winning skills and an ability to anticipate the next play. She possesses technical ability and excellent dribbling skills to break through opposition lines.
The tactical astuteness is not limited to the pitch. As a child, she used to compete in chess tournaments, but eventually gave it up due to the commitment. She even played chess against Barcelona men’s player Pedri for a commercial. The two share an agency, Leaderbrock Sports Group. Her father, upon seeing the pictures of the game, asked, “Did you beat Pedri at least?”
Despite still being in her teens, Serrajordi rarely checks social media to see what people are saying about her. Instead, she maintains her calm, taking everything that’s happened over the last year in her stride.
Others might have been overwhelmed by such a daunting challenge, but Serrajordi approached it with the positive, carefree attitude of a younger generation, similar to Lamine Yamal, Lopez or Pau Cubarsi.
When Serrajordi returned to Spain after winning her first Champions League title, she went back to La Masia, where she will continue to live until November of this year. However, replacing a player she looked up to is not just difficult on the pitch, but challenging in other ways.
When Putellas announced her departure, Serrajordi was one of the most emotional players at the farewell ceremony, despite having played alongside her for just one season.
“I would have liked to have made it (into the first team) sooner,” Serrajordi said in an interview with Diari Ara in May. “But I think she’s done everything she needed to do at Barça and has opened many doors for us.”
During the Champions League celebrations, before La Reina’s departure was public, Putellas was very active in supporting Serrajordi, including featuring her in a post-game, pre-party Instagram Live.
The day after returning from Oslo, Norway, Putellas used her time on the microphone during the public celebrations at Montjuïc to chant, “Serra, Serra.”
“We baked the cake and now they’ll eat it,” Putellas said, looking at her younger team-mates during her farewell.
“Becoming a new Alexia is impossible for me. There will never be anyone like her. That much is clear, and I don’t put that pressure on myself because I won’t be her,” Serrajordi said in an interview with Diari Ara.
Still, with her presence, the future of Barcelona’s midfield remains in safe hands.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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