I am hopelessly & madly in love with Mapi. On and off the pitch. NOTE: This blog will be optimized for viewing through a web browser (certain features don't show in the mobile app)
It has been a hot, hot minute since I posted anything here. Honestly, I think I'm having a bit of a crisis. I keep bouncing around between social media platforms looking for community, and I end up just screaming into the void on all of them. So...honestly I'm not sure how much I'll keep posting in here.
If no one is reading it or liking it, it's not worth my time. I can happily collect photos for myself and not bother with posts/shares. But it's Pride Month already in some parts of the world including Spain (not for me, just yet) and I'm always here to support the queers.
So... I originally had all kinds of things planned for Pride Month, actually the original plan was to try to post something every day. And especially also because June is Mapi's birthday month. Not sure if I'll meet that original lofty goal, but maybe. I have a lot of stuff saved up that I could potentially post over the summer while the team is not playing.
Anyway... Happy pride month y'all! I'm a bisexual woman married to a man, but I'm here to remind y'all that bisexuals are still bisexual no matter what their current relationship looks like. We are kinda like werewolves in that way... doesn't matter the phase of the moon, we are always bi, just like werewolves are always werewolves no matter what form they are currently in.
More tomorrow.... (maybe?)
Happy Lesbian Visibility Day to all my lesbian friends and followers!!! Even if we've never met or never chatted, I love you all & hope you are having a great day. 🧡🤍❤️🌈
Once again though, I don't bite. 😆 Always happy to chat.
❤️💛 Feliz San Jorge y Feliz Día de Aragón! 🐉🫶🏼y Feliç Sant Jordi!🌹📖
Today is Sant Jordi's Day, one of the most important holidays in Catalonia. This festival is based on the legend of Sant Jordi, the patron saint of Catalonia. It tells the story of a knight, a dragon and a princess. In other parts of Spain, it is known as Saint George's Day. And in Aragón - the autonomous community Mapi hails from - it is known as Dia de Aragón.
On this day, in Catalonia, people give books and roses to their loved ones. As best as I can tell, this is somewhat equivalent to Valentine's Day in the USA.
Interview with Mapi León: "This is not a tantrum for me, of course it bothers me not to go to the World Cup"
The Barça defense is honest about his personal moment, the conflict with the national team and the Alhama case.
Mapi León does not mince words. The 27-year-old Barça defense always speaks openly and is transparent. Now, with emotions running high for the Champions League semifinal , he talks to EL PERIÓDICO, from the Prensa Ibérica group , about the Alhama case , the situation with the Spanish team and the work that remains to be done in football female.
Two weeks of many emotions are coming with the Champions League tie in two large stadiums.
With a lot of desire, a lot of desire. As a footballer, you love these moments: the semifinals of a Champions League, Chelsea, Stamford Bridge... It's a team. I don't know how to explain it, but as soon as the Atlético de Madrid game happened, I was like: Ah! Now I focus on this one! [series].
You meet Chelsea again, whom you beat in the final of the first Champions League.
That final, understand me... We also played our final and look how it went. It is a new circumstance that you live. The game doesn't go as you had planned. I have not prepared it with anything concrete or special. Simply, it is Champions and you know that it is final, after final, after final. I also imagine that Chelsea will be very keen. I no longer know if they looked at it as revenge or not revenge. That we won a game, a final, they are not the same team and neither are we. They have eliminated Lyon, it is the reality. I am here smiling because I really want to and I am very happy, but this is going to be hard.
When you go to Europe and see great teams and how they are managed in a similar way to Barça . When do you see that here, in the Spanish league, there are cases like Alhama's?
You feel sorry and angry. I mean, it's a shame you have to live a situation like this at this point in life, in the first division. It's sad that you have to live this and it's angry for the same. I don't know, I don't want to get involved... But this is the first division... We don't know how much everyone is ready and prepared. In general, players, staff... We don't know what baggage they carry, what level of professionalism there is. And I believe that this does not happen in other leagues, I think. I don't know, because I don't live it, but it's not what it seems. With these things it continues to show that there are still many shortcomings and you realize that we continue with this fight.
How real is the professionalization that you were promised?
To be a professional you still have to change many things. Maybe to professionalize, the first thing is to call him, the same. But it's not enough for us just to call him. Many things have to be changed. With all due respect, but there are some fields where you can't play because it doesn't look like the First Division. In addition to the specific economic situations, the physical, psychological and mental preparation, the help that the clubs have... there are many things behind this. So that I can perform every weekend or the Champions League match I have to rest well, I have to eat well, which unfortunately is not cheap.
And how do you stay when the League says that soccer players have to live on 16,000 euros a year?
Of course, yes, with juggling. Look, I, in these things, I mean… It's dramatic. 16 thousand euros and you can't work outside the club and, if you can, let's see what the club tells you. And I also imagine that with the 16,000 euros you will have to save, buy a car... And in the future you will also have children and you want to eat healthy. I'm going to Hogwarts, to see if their secret chamber with money appears to me, because... I'm kidding because in the end I take it ironically, but it's not something that makes me laugh. I from my privileged position, but I imagine that the girls who are in this situation, it is not an easy situation. I'm not saying that 16,000 euros isn't money, and things can be done, but you can't live professionally with that.
It is incongruous that it is said that the objective is to professionalize when the means are not provided.
I want this league to be as competitive as possible, but if the player I'm going to play against doesn't have the conditions to get the most out of it, that's going to make the League not as competitive as it could be, because it's not you have the conditions for it. They are details, that must be changed, that they will fight for it to be changed and that we hope that the work will be rewarded. Let's see if, insisting and insisting, we manage to change these things.
Do you feel the pressure of having to be champions of change as well as footballers?
It is normal that we have part of the responsibility, since we are the visible face and we are surely people who can help others who are at a point where they need help so that people react. Even if you are in a situation, it is difficult to raise your voice in a certain way because you say: if I raise my voice, I will leave. We have part of the responsibility, it is true, but there is another that is like: Do I have to be saying that a person cannot have these conditions in order to be a professional? I mean, do you really think that this woman has the perfect and ideal conditions to get the most out of it? It surprises me.
Is something similar happening in the national team? You ask for changes, but they don't come because you are still willing to miss the World Cup. Now that there has been a concentration, and there are colleagues who have returned, have you felt sorry for not going?
It makes you even more angry. In the end, I know what we're fighting for. Of course he fucks. I have spent years, and I will allow myself to say this, in high performance, and I think I have earned being in the national team. That in the end that reward, to this day, is not going to take me pleasant is not. But in the end I think that in the end you have to be aware of why you are doing this and that the focus does not go away. This for me is not a tantrum and if someone believes it, they do not understand absolutely nothing of the message that is trying to be sent. There are things that are very clear to me, I need some changes, if those changes do not take place, then I have to assess whether or not I want to continue with the situation as it is.
Do you think that the speech has asked for strength with the events that have been happening?
They are looking for different ways to try to solve it. In the end, it is obvious that during this time there have been few seemingly visible changes. I imagine and understand that there are people who want to look for other paths. In the end, it is true that each of us has a way of thinking about how to resolve the situation. I hope that the message is not weakened, because in the end it is the same. People who are outside and don't have all the information, say: "Oh, that's strange! They're coming back, but everything is the same!" I can understand that there are people who cause confusion. I suppose and I hope that everyone is calm with their conscience, that they are sure of their decisions. I am sure of mine. It is having clear ideas and they are situations and ways to act and control your anxiety and desire.
How has all of this affected you? Personally.
Of course I don't want to miss out on the opportunity to play in a World Cup, of course not. But there are some things that need a process. Things are not done from one day to the next, but then maybe it would be a tantrum. It is not: "I want the toy on the shelf, and I want it now." I'm fine. I think that when you are so calm with yourself that what you are doing is because you really believe that it is what you have to do. That I may be wrong, eh, but it's what I feel and it's what I have to do. Just because it's okay doesn't mean I don't care. I am calm with myself, I know what my body is asking for. This also entails some risks, of course, but I am focused on Barça, on the Champions League semi-finals and on the League, which is well on its way. I'm happy. I am focused on the club and it can be seen that things are being done well, that the project that they have been creating for years is bearing fruit. I am happy where I am.
Are we normalizing your success?
Yeah! Yes we have already won! [laughs]. There are many people who will think that by having been to three finals in four years, I understand that we have a certain point that we have it on track. It is normalizing and what we are doing is not normal at all. There will come a time when we will lose and that's it. In Turin, Lyon told us: "hey, not yet." Well nothing.
That moment seems distant, you are subscribed to victory.
The most important thing is to win, get the three points. Obviously being here, at Barça, not only that matters, but the ultimate goal is always to win. You have to win and that's what's difficult at this club. It's not worth just winning, but it's like winning. Now we have to play against Chelsea, which is going to be tough. In the end, everyone who thinks that this is done is the one who will fall, the one who will hit the curb, because this is how it is. We have to be very focused, knowing what the match is, because the English are going to push and we have to get a great result in the first leg so that the second leg at the Camp Nou has a correct result. If Chelsea has something, it's that they have scored two goals from half an opportunity. That people do not think that it is done.
⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽
As always with these things, the Google Translation isn't perfect. Here is a link to the original article for the Spanish speakers out there:
La defensa azulgrana se sincera sobre su momento personal, el conflicto con la selección y el caso Alhama
This little snippet in this interview feels significant. After months of digging in her heels on the National Team situation, this feels like ever so slightly cracking the door open to a return.
I am worried, however, that even if she softens her position that the relationship is too fractured at this point, and she likely won't be summoned.
What do you think?
I *knew* they've been doing this with various players for a few days but somehow I still missed Mapi's turn! 😭😭😭
Not that I had any questions at the ready, but I'm sure I could've come up with something! Anyway, as you can see only some of these have subtitles. I'm going to try to do my best to translate these but it will probably take several days before I have time. If someone knows what she is saying feel free to comment or message me! 😂
I still enjoy listening to her talk regardless, even if barely understand.
I feel so seen! Except for me it's not a dude it's Mapi. And my photos / videos are strewn across 3 different computers, my phone, and at least 3 different cloud storage platforms. I'm a mess.
Fun training video, playing the floor is lava with the ball. Marta is being so silly. 🍑😄
And YAY for warmer weather so we're back to sleeveless Mapi! 💪🥵
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