#Jonatan Giráldez

[iowahawx]

I caught this in Sam Mewis' interview with Lucy Bronze on her new podcast...talking about the Barca coach coming to the US.

I had to tell him like you need to know who Mia Hamm is. He was like who's that I was like trust me just name drop her and they'll think that you're like amazing.

I mean, I get it. But I don't.

👀

[baddawgsports]

Washington Spirit Triumphs: Playoff Win Over Bay FC

The Washington Spirit entered the playoffs today as the second seed and faced off with the 7th seeded Bay FC. Many predicted this one should be an easy win for the Washington Spirit who are stacked with talent in every area of the pitch and lead by former Barcelona head coach that won La Liga Fem. The team played in front of a sold out Audi Field something that we will surely see again next week…

[estadijohan]

LA UNIDAD B DE GIRÁLDEZ

Tras los partidos contra AS Roma y Alhama CF pudimos presenciar la Unidad A y B de Jonatan Giráldez en el FC Barcelona Femení y se han juntado nuestros queridos Loberto, Kapayapà y Ankarahansen para divagar sobre ello. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEzbGfOiEb8

[yourwosogirly]

Broken Hearts, Healing souls - Mapi Leon

Based off this request

Word count: 2k

The door unlocked, followed by keys placed in a bowl and shoes being taken off but it didn’t make me turn my head .

“how was the party?”i asked bitterly, finally speaking up and turning towards my girlfriend. For now.

“It was good”she swallowed uncomfortably, feeling the tension in the room, but not knowing what it was from.

she could clearly tell I was upset though as normally when she would arrive home I would jump straight in her arms, showering her with kisses.

but it didn’t look like that was going to be happening anytime soon.before anything could be said I shoved my phone in her face .

“what’s this?”i ask sternly as she sucked in a breath.it was a picture alexia had taken at the party mapi had been at and while it looked pretty normal you could clearly see in the back mapi snogging a girl with red hair .

I was a brunette.

now I was very aware of mapi’s dating history which had scared me sometimes with insecurity knowing she would jump from one girl to the next after getting bored, but I was reassured I was different.but clearly I was only different because she thought she could jump to one girl to the next while we’re together .

“did you cheat on me?”i whisper looking up at her .

“y/n..”she mumbled and I stood up abruptly and my heels clicked against the floor as I walked closer to her .

“no, mapi it’s a simple question.did you cheat on me”I asked sternly taking a pause between each word .

“yes”she looked down at the ground full of guilt as I gasped taking a step back. I was expecting it, of course but hearing it was come out of her mouth was a different story.

I was baffled to say the least, I had no idea what to say, I couldn’t even look her eyes.this certainly wasn’t the woman, I thought she was and fell in love with .

“why?….why would you do this?to me?”i ask her, my voice cracking.her eyes flooded with tears, heart breaking from the pain in my voice.

“because…”

“because what, mapi”I cut her off sharply and she sucked in a breath.

“I don’t fucking love you, okay?!”She let out and I stopped for a moment, my body feeling frozen but in a numb way before I exploded .

“Get out!Get out!Get out!GET THE FUCK OUT!”

4 years later….

I let out a shaking breathe as I stood outside the training centre with the Barcelona crest shining on the side of it .My hands shook with nerves while I kept taking deep breaths whispering, “you can do this”,over and over .

Transferring to Barcelona wasn’t one of my plans but despite all the nerves moving clubs gave me a specific one stuck in the back of my mind making me shudder .

More like a specific someone.

“hi y/n, you okay?”i opened my eyes to seeing Jonatan Giráldez, my new coach standing in front of me .

“yes, I’m fine”lie. I put on a fake smile which he seemed to be convinced by as he nodded his head slowly at me .

“alright, cmon then, gotta get ready for your first training session”he chuckled, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

“alright girls, this is y/n”Jonatan said, introducing me to the team before he sent me off to go join them .I was overwhelmed slightly as all the girl surrounded me, introducing their names all at once which I certainly wouldn’t remember.

“hi y/n”mapi said i internally rolled my eyes, I couldn’t believe she was doing this right now. I couldn’t be arsed to have to deal with her.I pretty much ignored her though, only giving her a smile as we started some drills and despite everything happening, god was on my side and I luckily wasn’t paired up with mapi.

“hey, you okay?”marta whispered to me with a curious smile as she was stood next to me.my eyes were burning into the back of mapi’s head as I watched her .

I knew I technically in this moment she hadn’t done anything wrong yet. She just made me unbelievably angry for no reason at all but the girl did cheat on me .I tried to pick out all the things she did that disgusted me but they were all lies.she just looked so undeniably gorgeous.

“yeah, I’m fine”i said focusing my gaze away from the fake blonde. stop it, y/n you can’t go back there.

I caught mapi’s eyes from across the pitch which caused me to shudder. she smiled at me though, unexpectedly but I turned away making her smile falter as I passed the ball back to Laia.

••••

I sat in the corner of the locker room, my eyes closed as I silently cried and hugged my knees against the chest.

training had been over and done with and as well as it went and I couldn’t wait to have my debut for this team, my heart hurt, more than ever .

I was convinced pretty much everyone had gone home by now, if someone was here they would’ve came in by now and the locker room was pretty much empty.

suddenly I heard footstep but I ignored them, resting my head against my knees until I felt a hand tapping my shoulder and sitting down into the spot next to me .

“hey, you okay?”the voice made me freeze up. I knew that voice all too well.

“why do you want?”I looked up at her and her eyes widened seeing my blotchy and blood shot, red eyes.

“please y/n, just tell me what’s wrong, I know I hurt you but I still care for you”she said with a sympathetic gaze directed at me .

I sighed, leaning my head back against the wall behind me. “I hate it here”i mumbled .

“no you don’t”she dismissed and I raised an eyebrow at her .

“how would you know?”I asked her with a bit of sass laced in my voice .

“y/n please, I dated you for four years, I know what your like and I was watching you today, believe it or not and you didn’t look like you hated it, you fit in with the team really well”i sighed in frustration, rubbing my hands against my face .

“what’s really going on?”she asked placing her hand on my shoulder before I pushed it off, turning to her .

“I hate it because you are here!”i exclaimed, now being nose to nose with her .

“I-I don’t understand”she shook her head confused and I groaned .

“well learn to maps, I had buried my feelings for you so hard in my heart when we broke up because you hurt me so much yet I’ve never loved anyone that much and seeing you here today, four years later, I fell in love all over again and I don’t think I can do it”i shook my head, wanting to scream into my pillow and cry.

“oh y/n”mapi leaned down and for some reason I didn’t recognise the look on her face as she cupped my cheeks .

“please don’t touch me, mapi”I flinched, forcing myself to look away from her .

“y/n I”she started but I cut her off.

“no, mapi, I can’t do this, if I keep looking in your eye I will fall in love all over again and I can’t go through that, it’s too painful”i turned my head to the side and biting my lip, to stop myself from bursting into tears.

“y/n, I’ll never hurt you again, I promise you”she said grabbing my chin again, and I let her this time.

“how do I know that?”I asked naïvely .

“because y/n, I still love you”she confessed and I closed my eyes shut in fear.

when I didn’t respond she carried on. “it’s true and you might hate me even more but I don’t care, you need to know. All the girls?their nothing compared to you.nothing.I’ve never liked any of them the way I love you”.

“mapi”she knew I still wasn’t convinced.

“y/n, I’m not asking you to get back with me and sleep next to me tonight all I’m asking is for a second chance, it was four years ago, I’ve changed which may be hard to believe but I want to get you to earn my trust again”I was slowly easing to her way but I still wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know, mapi”I shook my head but she didn’t seem to be giving up.

“mi amore, please? just take it one step at a time yeah? and in the end you can choose alright? so how about coffee?tomorrow?”she asked with a hopeful.

“y-yeah, I can do coffee”i nodded making her smile .

“Perfect. I’ll drive us there after training okay?that sound good?”she asked and I nodded.

“I’ll see you tomorrow y/n”she was careful as she pulled me into a small hug, kiss my forehead and leaving the room after picking up her stuff.

••••

“hi y/n, you alright?”mapi asked me as we met up outside the car park and I nodded silently adjusting my kit bag on my shoulder.

“great, let’s go, if your ready of course?”she asked as I nodded again, she was still very wary of me.

“yeah, I’m ready” I whispered as we headed to her car and she drove to the cafe. the whole car ride was silent with me leaning my head against the window, the radio on as Mapi drove to the cafe she was familiar with, which didn’t take too long to get here.

once we had arrived, she quickly opened the door and got out of the car but as I moved to do the same, in a flash, she was there opening the door.

“for the lady”she smirked and I got out chuckling shyly. I muttered a small thank you as we headed towards the cafe.

The bell rang as we entered the cafe a few heads turning toward us which we didn’t mind our business with.

“Is this okay?”she asked, pointing to the small two people's table in front of the window.

“yeah, this is fine” I said sliding into my seat.

“Okay, I’ll go order for us what would you like?” she asked me, leaning against the table.

“umm, cappuccino please” I smiled and she nodded walking to the counter to order our drinks.

I sighed as I watched her walk away, god I hated her I mean hated her .I hated the way she walked, the way she talked, the way she dressed today, how she looked, why did she have to look so beautiful and most of all I hated the way she looked putting the heart she broke back together with her kind gestures.

“here you go”I was brought out of my trance with my cappuccino plane in front of me. mapi sat down opposite me and sipped on her green tea.

“you okay?”she asked and I nodded, sipping on my hot drink after blowing on it to lower the temperature.

“I’m fine” I mumbled, placing my cup down on the table.

“Can I?”she asked apprehensively as she reached to grab my hands. I nodded slowly as she took them on her own.

“y/n, I just wanted to say, I’m really sorry for what I did and I will never stop apologising because to be honest I’m lucky you're giving me this chance cause I don’t deserve it but I have to try, cause I never stop thinking about you,” she said breathlessly.

“mapi, hey, you did hurt me a lot, but I’m not closing this off, I can see you actually care and that your putting effort in” I reassure her cupping her cheeks and she leaned into my hands.

“really?”she whispered and I nodded with a smile, it was the first time I had smiled around her in a long time.

“yeah, I’m not saying you're forgiven but this is the start of a new us and trust me I would’ve said no if there weren’t feelings still there.

“Okay, yeah I understand, but just know this is gonna work y/n, I know it, I’m gonna fight for us” she stoked my cheek making me smile.

“so wanna go back to my place?”she said cheekily as we stood up wrapping her arm around me.

“Hey, don’t be too pushy now” I smiled making her laugh as we walked out of the coffee shop with my head on her chest.

It was the start of something new.

Two fics in one day?me?never

[viandclintbarton-supremacy]

Cruel, Cruel World (Crimson Mask Sequel)

*Beep*

"Cruel, cruel world, must I go on?"

*Beep*

"Cruel, cruel world, I'm moving on"

*Beep*

"I've been living too fast"

*Beep*

"And I've been living too wrong"

*Beep*

"Cruel, cruel world, I'm gone"

*Beep*

"Cruel, cruel world, I'm gone"

*Beep*

You sigh as you stare blankly to the ceiling in your hospital room. Deciding either to sing another sing off one of your playlist.

You frown at the pain in your head making you feel the bandage around your head, whilst also being annoyed of the EKG machine beeping. It's been nearly a week, since the incident. A week since your ex teammate, ex captain, your friend put you here. The thought of Millie sent mixed emotions in you, Millie always looked out for you and looked after you but that night she nearly killed you, on purpose or not!. You started to tighten the hold on your bed's support bars and breath deeply, every time you thought of Lucy or Millie you would start to shake but more violently when it was Millie. You started to violently shake a bit but managed to recompose yourself

You haven't watched it back, you didn't want to see what happened or the aftermath. All you were told was you were barged into the goal post created a very bad laceration on your head. You were taken to the local hospital while the game continued, the good news Japan won! Bad News you are out for the rest of the cup. You shook the thought as you sighed and grabbed your phone and sat up.

Ever since that night, your phone was crazy. Tweets, tags, mentions, dms, emails from fans, friends, the Barcalona Women and Men.........Keira, Lucy.....Bright. You couldn't open them, you just got so angry, sad, anxious.......hurt that you just wanted to avoid it as it was too much.

You scrolled down and read throught the messages you saw earlier that made you smile.

Yui sending you a video of the team wishing you well before it wad posted on social media.

Fran Kirby sending you clips of her pets and being goofy

Mapi Leon trying her best to find out what hospital you are in

Gundegun sending you messages of encouragement

Sam and Erin also sending you a get well video

Mentions on many of your friends and Fan stories also

One that you made you smile was Mary Earps. She posted a picture of your free kick you scored and simply wrote

"The most challenging opponent I have ever faced, Can't wait to face off again. #TheGoat"

Even though you had faced Mary countless times and never chatted except from handshakes, you both had massive respect for each other.

You then got a new tag from the Barcelona account, you clicked on the notification and waited for it too load as you clicked to video to play the sound also

The first face was Alexia making you smile to see your captain

"Hey little one! Hope you are feeling better! We are missing you, you are a strong human and have always brighten up our days. so hurry and recover so we can make more memories and goals together!"

The next was the Barcelona manager Jonatan Giráldez

"Hey F/N, we are eagerly waiting your return. The ambiance in the team can be seen, the girls and the staff are missing your presence and so am i!. Get better soon so we can have an amazing season"

Next was Mapi

"Hey F/N!!! I'm so happy to hear you are safe and recovering, i know how hard it is being stuck in a bed not being able to do what you love and help the team out. From the first day i met you till now i can say i am so proud of you! so is the team, the Barca fans and your country, Get well soon Little One!"

It would show so many of your friends, from Rolfo to Paredes to Patricia to Raphinha

then it showed the entire Boy and Girl youth teams. You always showed them support and help them when you could.

"GET WELL SOON L/N" They shouted as they cheered and some held little signs in Spanish, understanding some and some not it warmed your heart.

The next person

*EKG beeps slightly quicken

"F/N, I hope you are feeling ok"

You would start to shift a bit with a uneasy feeling in your stomach as you looked at Keira Walsh's face.

"I want to thank you for giving us the tough task of going against you and Japan, you were amazing and you should feel proud. Also i don't think you heard me on the pitch, But i am sorry if i hurt you in that tackle." You would feel the slight pain in your hip as she said it. You weren't mad at her, tackles happen but you just felt hurt on how she acted about it, that's what hurt "This season is going to be a good one and i am determined to break the number of goals and assist between us last year! Proud of you, see you soon!" You somewhat was happy but also sad thinking about her actions on the pitch.

The next person would show up

*EKG beeps quicken

Then you would start to shake and try to take a deep breath

*Beep Beep*

"Hey Little One"

You would start to feel sweat on your brow

*Beep Beep*

"I'm so sorry, i couldnt see you after the match"

Your lip started to quiver and jaw started to shake

*Beep Beep*

"But i want you to know tha-"

you closed the the app and the phone as you would cover your eyes fighting back the tears that were trying you creep out. you placed the other hand on your chest and began to breath slowly and deeply as the sounds of the EKG machine beeps would slow.

You placed your phone back down and looked out to the window to blossom leaves falling and calmed you. You then put on your ear buds and played the song "Beautiful" by Eminem

you would fall into more into your bed as you let Marshals words into your mind, comforting you and making you feel at peace.

Forgetting the face you saw on the the post a few moments ago that sent you into a panic.

The Face of Lucy Bronze

Part 2 End

Next Chapter: Pain That Shines Bright

So wow I didn't expect that reaction from part 1. I'm happy you guys liked it and got enjoyment out of it, I'm sorry this was short but next chapter will be longer I am working on more Woso stuff including Gender neutral since i want everyone to be included and looking at my requests.

I hope this chapter held up, hopefully the next part will be out soon. i will try to keep you guys updated.

But please let me know what you guys liked about it, feedback helps so much

[talkingwoso]

🏥 The current expectation is that Mapi León will receive the medical green light to be included in the squad list for the UWCL final, if Jonatan Giráldez deems it appropriate.

vía ap_angelperez

[alexbkrieger13]

P voted for CGH, Bomati and Girma

P voted for Jonatan Giráldez, Emma Hayes and Sonia Bompastor

P voted for =Berger, Naeher and Earps

[outsideratheart]

Jonatan Giráldez, I beg of you. Please rest Aitana.

We played Sevilla during the week and beat them 8-0. We have young players on the bench for this exact reason.

[baddawgsports]

Washington Spirit Returns to NWSL Playoffs After 2021 Championship Victory

Washington Spirit Clinches a Berth in 2024 NWSL Playoffs

Spirit returns to postseason for first time since 2021 championship win! With tonight’s results, the Washington Spirit has clinched a berth in the 2024 NWSL Playoffs. The draw between North Carolina Courage and Bay FC along with the Chicago Red Stars’ victory over Portland Thorns FC. The result will guarantee the Spirit a top eight finish. This ensures a trip to the quarterfinals in…

[magicfootballstuff]

Strictly Unprofessional - part 1 (alexia putellas x reader)

Summary: You’ve just landed your dream job as a photographer at FC Barcelona Femení. The only problem? You hooked up with the captain five years ago and haven’t seen her since.

Part 1/9

Read other parts here.

———

Like anybody would be on the first day of a new job, you’re nervous. 

It’s your first job as a full time photographer. You’ve only done freelance or part-time work before - mostly events, some portraits, and one brief stint as an assistant to a photographer who specialized in taking photos of pets - but you were also waitressing in the evenings to earn enough to pay your bills.

Today you start as a photographer for the Barcelona women’s football team. You heard about the vacancy from a friend of a friend and applied, and finally all the hard work at media school and years of worrying when your next job would come in is worth it because they offered you the position.

There’s another reason you’re nervous. You actually met one of the players before, a random encounter with none other than the Barcelona captain Alexia Putellas while in Ibiza five years ago. Not that you knew who she was at the time. You met her at a beach party and though she told you she was a footballer, you were much more interested in letting her buy you drinks and going back to her hotel room later in the night. It was only later, when you returned home to Barcelona, that you took the time to look her up and realized she was actually quite good.

Since then she’s become a global star. It’s a little weird seeing the face of somebody you once had a meaningless hookup with on a billboard or on the front of a magazine. Sometimes you wonder if she even remembers who you are.

Well, you guess you’ll find that out today.

You nearly didn’t apply for the job because of Alexia. You haven’t had many one night stands and you don’t really know what the etiquette is supposed to be when you bump into them years later, but you eventually decided that the job itself was too good to pass up because of a bit of potential awkwardness between you and one of the players.

It’s been five years. It’ll be fine.

You decide to dress smart-casual on your first day, wanting to impress without going overboard, wearing a nice cream coloured sweater which you tuck into the front of your nicest pair of jeans. You pack and repack your camera equipment what feels like a hundred times, checking that you haven’t forgotten anything important, until you couldn’t possibly be any more prepared. 

You arrive at the Barcelona training facility where your new boss greets you and introduces you to the rest of your colleagues in the media department, then takes you on a tour of the facility. You meet a lot of other people along the way, including the coach Jonatan Giráldez, but none of the players. Maybe it won’t be so bad after all.

“So preseason actually starts tomorrow,” the head of media tells you, as she leads down a corridor lined with physio rooms and offices. “Most of the girls will be in tomorrow morning - we’ll want to get some shots of them all arriving for social media - and we should have a full team by Friday, but a couple of the more senior players are in the gym today. Let me introduce you.”

She pushes open a set of double doors at the end of the hallway and you follow her into a large air-conditioned room full of gym equipment. In the corner, two women are chatting while a third lifts weights.

You’re led over and introduced to them.

“This is Irene, Marta and Alexia.”

Your heart stops as you hear Alexia’s name. You give your name and shake hands with Irene and Marta, but your gaze remains on Alexia as she puts down the weights, wipes her face with a towel, then turns to face you.

“Hi,” she says, offering out her hand, which you tentatively shake. “I’m Alexia.”

Your eyes drift up from your joined hands to her face, which glistens with sweat from her recent workout, and your breath catches in your throat. She looks almost exactly as you remember, though slightly older, any softness that may have lingered from her youth gone and replaced by chiseled, more defined features. Her eyes are warm as she smiles at you but there’s not a single glimmer of recognition in them.

And that’s when you realise - she has absolutely no idea who you are.

It stings. You’ve spent the last few days worrying about this exact moment, worrying that one night five years ago could ruin your first day at your dream job, without even considering that it would actually hurt more if she didn’t recognise you.

“You’re the new photographer?” Alexia asks, finally dropping your hand.

“That’s right,” you nod, trying not to let it get you down.

“You’ve got an easy job with this one,” Marta jokes, gesturing to Alexia. “Alexia loves the cameras. She’s had lots of practice since she became a superstar.”

“Shut up, you make it sound like I’m a diva.” Alexia turns back to you, then says, “It’s nice to meet you. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

“You too,” you manage to agree, before you bid goodbye to all three players and make your way towards the door to resume the tour.

“You’ll get to know the players really well,” the head of media tells you, as you leave the gym. “Lots of big personalities but they’re all great. And despite what they said, Alexia is a complete professional. She’s a big name, of course, but there’s a reason she’s the captain.”

You try to remember the Alexia that you met in a beach club five years ago but the memories that were a bit hazy anyway are already being overwritten by the brief encounter you’ve just had. Maybe it’s for the best that Alexia doesn’t remember who you are, to save your own professionalism being called into question if it got out that you’d had a fling with her all those years ago. But you also can’t deny that every cell in your body feels as though it’s been charged with electricity since you saw her again.

———

Your second day is even more overwhelming than the first. As promised, the rest of the team arrive for their first day of pre-season and you get thrown right in at the deep end, capturing photos of the players arriving and greeting each other, then moving over to the pitches to get some action shots of the first training session of the new season.

One of the other photographers, a guy called Hugo who has been with the club for just over a year, guides you. He introduces you to many more of the players and points out a couple of the new signings so you can make sure you get plenty of photos of them on their first day.

“We don’t play favourites, obviously, but it’s always a good idea to get some good shots of Alexia,” Hugo advises you. “The fans love her, and the social media guys love us when we give them content that’s going to give them a lot of engagement.”

You take his advice on board as you seek out Alexia and direct your camera towards her, taking a few action shots of her in the middle of a tackling drill.

Once the players all head inside after training for a team meeting, you return to the media office and check out some of the pictures you’ve taken. You delete a few of the bad ones while saving the good ones to your hard drive, until you stop on a photo you took of Alexia. 

It’s a photo taken between drills, one of Alexia standing with a ball tucked under her arm as she talks to Patri Guijarro, but both players are caught in the middle of a fit of laughter. It’s perfect in its candidness, an unfiltered moment between two friends and shows the Barcelona captain’s humanity in a way that you never get to see in any of the staged magazine photoshoots she does.

“Wow,” Hugo says, glancing over your shoulder at your computer screen. “Social media will love that.”

He beckons over the social media manager, who agrees and asks you to send the photo across, along with a few others.

When you see the photo on all the Barcelona social media channels later that day, you can’t help but feel proud that you’re already making your mark.

When Alexia reposts it on her personal Instagram, it means even more.

———

You’re just starting to find your feet when the real chaos starts.

“Photo day,” Hugo says, as if every day as a photographer isn’t exactly that, but you soon realise what he means. “Luckily for us it only happens on this scale once a year.”

Hugo talks you through the process. Between the two of you, today you’ll be capturing hundreds of posed pictures of every single one of the players in the new home and away kits. It’s almost like a military operation, two rooms set up with lights and green screens, a defined list of poses that each player needs to work through, multiple hair and makeup stations just down the hall.

You cast your eyes down the schedule for the day, split into ten minute slots with player names and which kit they’ll be wearing, and you’re not sure if you’re relieved or disappointed to see that both of Alexia’s slots are on Hugo’s list.

But then you’re thrown headfirst into the chaos, and by the time you’re thirty minutes in, you’re already starting to memorise the list of poses and feeling more comfortable.

It’s actually a great way to get to know the players individually. There’s time for a bit of smalltalk between poses or while you’re swapping out props, and you make the effort to remember names and get to know the girls a bit too. The better you know them, the better you’ll be able to capture them with a camera. 

You’re slightly ahead of schedule by lunchtime and you’re just about to leave to go and grab some food from the campus cafeteria, when you hear a knock on the door and look up to see Alexia standing awkwardly in the doorway, dressed in the new home kit complete with socks and boots.

“They’re running a bit behind in the other room and said I should come here to make up some time,” she explains. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah, of course,” you say, gesturing for Alexia to come in and take her place in front of the green screen.

You stay behind your camera, all of a sudden feeling a bit weird about being alone in a room with her, until you look up and realise that Alexia is struggling with her captain’s armband, the red and yellow striped band caught awkwardly on the sleeve of her jersey.

“Here, let me help,” you say, stepping out from behind the camera and crossing over to Alexia. 

Between the two of you, you manage to sort it out, straightening out the sleeve of the jersey and tucking it neatly so that the armband is on clear display around her bicep. You spot a glimpse of a tattoo on her inner arm and your fingers brush against the warm skin of her arm as you adjust the armband and step back.

“Perfect,” you say, as you return to your spot behind the camera. “Okay, first pose is square to the camera, arms behind your back.”

———

You get through the photos in record time with Alexia, who must have done this a million times before because she already seems to know the exact sequence of poses you expect from her. She also shows her professionalism by being the only player you’ve photographed so far today who doesn’t complain at the awkwardness of having to pretend to scream and celebrate into a camera lens.

Once the shoot is done, Alexia comes to stand at your shoulder as you scroll through some of the photos you’ve taken on the laptop wired up to the camera.

“I like that one,” she says, pointing at the screen when you hit a photo of her kissing the Barcelona badge on the front of her jersey.

“You should get copies of them all in the next couple of weeks,” you tell her.

“This might sound weird because you’re new, but have we done a shoot together before?” Alexia asks. “For a magazine, or something?”

Time seems to stand still. Your throat goes dry, the hairs on your arms stand to attention. Alexia must recognise you after all, even if she doesn’t remember where from. It’s now or never, if you’re going to remind her of what happened all those years ago in Ibiza, now is your chance. But if she doesn’t remember, maybe it’s best not to tell her. A clean slate without any awkwardness.

“No, I don’t think so,” you answer, your heart practically in your throat.

“I thought you looked familiar, but never mind,” she says, before she makes her way to leave. “Thanks again for squeezing me in. I’ll see you around.”

As she disappears around the corner and out of sight, you can’t help but wonder if you just made the wrong choice by not telling her.

[estadijohan]

¿Xavi o Iniesta? ¿Luis Suárez o Eto'o? ¿Oshoala o Geyse?

Vuelve la sección más aclamada del Estadi. Vuelve el inigualable BLAU O GRANA. Nuestro querido David Ruiz pone en varios dilemas al gran Loberto.

[uswnt5]

You know who doesn’t have a job rn that I think should be given at least a look. Casey Stoney.

surprised she hasn't been hired by someone yet

Angel City should be shopping on the level of Jonatan Giráldez

[cruyffista]

https://www.tumblr.com/cruyffista/761517547563696128/barca-fems-coach-is-only-31

the previous coach jonatan giráldez started coaching barça femení in 2021 when he was like 29-30 years old.

tbh i'm kind of jealous of how seamlessly barca fem has gone from lluis cortes to jonatan to pere romeu without much disruption to the team

[bellcza]

jonatan giráldez costas please forget the nwsl and come coach for menení i’ll do anything

[josu79]

El femení ha guanyat!

Avui 25 de Maig, el Barça femení s'ha proclamat campiona de la Women's Champions League, guanyant a��l'equip Francès Olympique de Lyon Femení 2 a 0, així el Barça acaba la temporada amb grans resultats.

[talkingwoso]

🎙️ Jonatan Giráldez:

“I can proudly say that both Barça and Barcelona are my home. I don't like goodbyes because I consider you part of my family. I want it to be a happy day, not a sad one. I will nostalgically remember everything we've experienced. If one day I have the opportunity to return to Barça, of course it will be an option. I would like to end this as it has been throughout the season, with the poker of titles and happiness. Visca el Barça.”