Back to us | Alexia Putellas

Start.

The pre-match warm up came and went and game time was drawing closer. I was nervous, I had been in this situation many times before, but something about today felt different.

As we lined up in the tunnel ready to walk out onto the pitch, my heart was racing and I couldn't control it. It felt like it was going to beat straight out of my chest. I was stood at the back of the line with Pina, who noticed how nervous I was. It was obvious to anyone who looked at me, my eyes darting around the room and my breathing uneasy as I adjusted my hair for the one hundredth time.

"Are you nervous chica?" she asked sarcastically as ruffled my newly adjusted hair.

I rolled my eyes at her before gently punching her on the upper arm. Just as she was about to open her mouth to make another sarcastic joke, the referee gave the signal that it was time to head out of the tunnel and onto the pitch. Pina quickly turned back around to face the front of the line, her game face was now on.

It was go time.

"VAMOS CHICAS!!" Alexia shouted from the front of the line as she led us out.

After we had lined up on the pitch and shaken hands with the Sevilla players it was time for our team photo. We gathered in front of the team photographer, organising ourselves into two lines, one in front of the other before posing for the photo.

I was so distracted by my nerves that I hadn't realised who I was stood next to, until I had wrapped my arm around her shoulder and she had wrapped her arm around my waist. I had subconsciously lined up in the same place that I always had... in the front row, with Alexia by my side. The feeling of her arm tightly wrapped around my waist suddenly calmed my nerves, I don't know why, but it did.

Once the picture had been taken, we slowly released our arms from one another and my nerves started to return. As I turned away to walk towards my starting position, I felt a firm hand on my shoulder, pulling me back.

"You'll do great, stop worrying" Alexia whispered into my ear, before she let go and jogged past me towards the centre circle.

It was game time.

The first half began well, Pina scoring in the 6th minute, followed by a penalty from Alexia in the 38th minute. In the last few minutes of the half, Sevilla had a good spell of possession. A long ball over the top left me one on one with their striker, running towards the goal. As I chased her down in an attempt to get to the the ball our legs got tangled and I was sent crashing to the ground.

I was lying with my face buried in the damp grass clutching my ankle when I heard footsteps thundering towards me. Almost immediately I was surrounded by players from each team, Sevilla players arguing with the ref that they should have a free kick, some of my teammates joining in the conversation while the others appeared at my side. I could feel that I had people around me, but I couldn't tell who they were, the pain was too much.

I slowly lifted my head from the grass and rolled onto my back, my eyes remaining tightly closed as I focused on the pain in my left ankle.

"Give us some space girls" The physios said as they arrived by my side, immediately turning their attention to my ankle.

As my teammates reluctantly left my side, I finally opened my eyes to look down at the physios who were stretching and testing my ankle causing me to wince in pain. I sat up and put on a brave face, trying to hide the fact that I was in pain. I wanted to play on, I needed to play on. It was my first game back and I couldn't go off.

"How does it feel Isabel?" the physio asked, still moving the injured joint.

"It's fine" I mumbled desperately trying to hide the pain.

The physio put some force through my ankle and I couldn't hide the discomfort I was feeling for any longer.

"Argh- f-fuck" I groaned, throwing my head back.

"It's almost half-time... let's take you off and do some checks. Maybe you can come back on in the second half" they pleaded.

"I'm fine, just let me play."

As I began retying my boot, I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

"Isy, please go and get it checked. You don't want to make it any worse by carrying on..."

I turned my head and saw Alexia crouched down behind me giving me a worried look, before placing her hand on my shoulder.

How long had she been there?

I didn't want her to be right, but I knew that she was. I could feel that something was wrong, if I went off now it might be ok in a few days, but if I carried on it could make it worse.

"Ok" I agreed reluctantly before letting the physios help me back to my feet and lead me inside.

After getting checked out by the physios and the team doctor in the medical room, they decided that I couldn't go back on. I already knew that though, the pain had slowly gotten worse and my ankle had started to swell. I was given an ice-pack and a pair of crutches and headed back outside to join the others on the bench.

The second half went better than the first, 3 goals from Aitana, Patri and Pina lead us to a 5-0 win to start the season.

Once the final whistle had been blown I slowly made my way back to the locker room, leaving the team on the pitch as they celebrated. I was happy that we had won, but I just wanted to be on my own. I was upset and I didn't want to ruin the celebrations

I was sat on the bench in front of my locker, my head resting in my hands and the tears desperately trying to escape when the door opened. The sounds of studs against the hard floor made their way towards me and whoever it was sat down beside me.

"Your mum is worried about you" Alexia's voice sounded softly from beside me.

I couldn't get any words out, every part of me was just trying to hold back the tears.

"She was screaming and shouting when you went down. She almost climbed over the barriers, your dad had to hold her back" She joked.

Still no words escaped my mouth.

"I told them that you would go and see them before we left"

No words

"Isy..." Alexia pleaded.

The tears finally escaped and my body began to shake with the sobs.

Alexia wrapped her arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to her in an attempt to calm me down.

Every part of this conversation took me back to almost 4 years ago when I last injured my ankle. Alexia and I were in this exact position, her holding me whilst I sobbed my heart out.

"I spoke to the physios, they said you should be fine in a couple of weeks. It's not as bad as last time Isy... I know it feels like the end of the world, but I promise you that it isn't"

Alexia was right, it wasn't as bad as last time.

As I lifted my head from my hands and wiped the tears from my cheeks, trying to get my emotions back under control, I was met with Alexia's hazel eyes staring down at me.

"You'll be back before you know it" she smiled.

I don't know what it was, but it felt like we were Isy and Ale again, after all this time. The feeling of her arm around my shoulder didn't make me want to pull away like I thought it would, it made me feel calm, it made me feel safe. As we sat there looking into each others eyes, I wanted to feel closer to her.

I had totally forgotten about the pain that I had been feeling before she entered the room, in this moment my mind could only focus on one thing.

"Ale..."

"Yeah" she said, almost whispering, her eyes never leaving mine.

"Kiss me"