and here it is: maria tikas on one last tribute to alexia ๐ "you've changed our lives, alexia"
as you say in the video, alexia, i donโt know where to start. yesterday you laid your heart bare, and today iโll do the same. and I think or rather, I know that everything iโm about to say to you now, even though it comes from my heart and speaks for me, wonโt be just my own feelings.
as a barรงa fan, it will be incredibly hard for me not to see you play in this shirt anymore. i canโt imagine barรงa without you. but i also fully understand your decision. because only you could leave in this way: so complete, so consistent, so worthy of everything youโve been. a perfect story. this year iโve seen you very happy, happier than in any of the past few years, and that has made us all happy. i know youโre leaving, as you said, full of love. and you deserve it.
one day i showed you a tattoo i have on my arm. โNo hi ha distร nciaโ. itโs one of the most important things youโve ever said and, as is often the case with many of the things you do, at the time you probably werenโt even aware of what it would come to mean. what you meant, after losing to wolfsburg and missing out on the champions league final for the only time in the last eight years, was that there was no longer any gap between you and europeโs top teams. that you were ready to win it. and you did. once, twice, three, four times. but that phrase means so much more.
it was the year i started at SPORT and the year i, a nobody, set out to do whatever i could and give it my all so that womenโs football in general, and barรงa in particular, would get the visibility they deserved. so that one day they could become what they are today.
when i was little, i used to play football at school, and it never crossed my mind that i might one day become a footballer, thank goodness i didnโt have the role models that girls have today because, quite frankly, i wasnโt cut out for the game. but then again, i never imagined i might become a sports journalist and be telling all this. when i started out, it never crossed my mind, not even in the furthest corner of my mind, that one day iโd be reporting on champions league finals, records at camp nou, historic trips to bilbao, oslo or eindhoven. even to turin or lisbon. nor that i'd be able to write such a special book about your story.
and this is where that phrase changes everything too. because โno hi ha distร nciaโ wasnโt just about you. it was about us too. about all of us who have grown up alongside you. because you have paved the way for us as well. you have made media editors understand that this matters too. that it deserves space. that it deserves front pages. that it deserves to be told. and you have made us part of it too. so that here, too, there is no distance.
because you havenโt just paved the way for the girls of today. you have also made many women who had never felt part of this world understand, at last, that it was theirs too.
i truly believe, and i hope no one takes offence because iโm speaking for myself, that there has never been a better leader or captain in the history of this club. no one who embodies so perfectly, in every possible way, on the pitch, as a person, and in the community, what barรงa stands for. the titles, both team and individual, that youโve won are almost the least important part of everything youโve achieved. youโve given your all for this badge. for these colours. for these teammates, those who remain and those who have moved on. for this sport. icons like iniesta, busquets and puyol paid tribute to you at your farewell. how incredible that is.
you have led an incredibly gruelling battle to bring womenโs football to where it is today. and not just anyone could have done that. you have shouldered a great deal on your own so that it wouldnโt affect the rest of us. you have worn yourself out in daily struggles so that those coming after you would find the path a little easier. and you have succeeded. you spoke up when you had to, even though youโre not one for cameras or microphones. you kept quiet when you had to. always out of respect. thereโs no need to list here all the barriers youโve broken down. you will always be the first in everything.
you made me cry that day at the mini when you secured your place in the champions league final. you made me cry when you said there was no distance between us. you made me cry with that line, โif we win, weโll be eternal, but because of how we play,โ in gothenburg. you made me cry with your first ballon dโor in paris. a triumph for us all. you made me cry with that first bow at camp nou. so elegant. i donโt think there will ever be a more fitting celebration. the queen bowing to her people. โuna di voiโ.
you made me cry when you broke down, because that day we all broke down. you made me cry with that โwhen i recover, iโm going to face beasts, so i have to be a beastโ to adriรกn. you made me cry with the second ballon dโor, because i could see you walking properly again, because those had been difficult months and that recognition was the boost you needed then, and also because it was my first time there.
you made me cry when you made your comeback. you made me cry when you lifted the champions league trophy in eindhoven, this time in front of your own fans, and gave patri that kiss on the forehead. you made me cry with that goal in bilbao, which will always be one of the most special iโve ever witnessed. you made me cry when the camp Nou wouldnโt stop applauding you for your 500th match and chanting your name, and you were moved. you made me cry in oslo.
and yesterday i cried more than ever, at the camp nou and at the johan. because if barรงa is where it is today, and let me say this too, and if i am where i am, it is largely thanks to you. youโve changed our lives. mine and that of so many more people than youโll probably ever imagine. each in their own way.
thank you so much, alexia
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