Back to us | Alexia Putellas

The comeback.

The last week or so had absolutely flown by. I'd been so busy with rehab, spending time with Ale, getting back on the training pitch and packing all of my belongings into boxes that this day felt like it had suddenly arrived. Today was my first match back after injury, and I was beyond excited.

I woke up before Ale, something that never normally happened and it took her by surprise almost as much as it did me. I was downstairs making breakfast, singing along to the radio when Ale's voice sounded from the bottom of the stairs.

"What is happening?" She asked sleepily while rubbing her eyes.

"I'm making breakfast for us" I smiled, walking towards her and placing a kiss on her cheek before turning back towards the kitchen.

"How long have you been up?"

"Since six" I said as I continued to prepare the fruit.

Ale slowly made her way into the kitchen, heading straight to the coffee machine and switching it on before turning back in my direction. She watched me with a wide smile on her face as I paced around the kitchen

"You're excited aren't you..."

"Maybe" I grinned, taking a bite of strawberry as I looked at her.

"I am too, I've missed having you on the pitch with me"

I couldn't wait to play again, I knew the likelyhood of me being in the starting eleven was next to none, but I was desperate to make an appearance even if it was just for a few minutes.

We arrived at the stadium earlier than usual in an attempt to avoid the crowds outside, which worked to a certain extent. The only fans there were the dedicated ones that were waiting at the entrance to the car park, hoping to get their shirt signed or a picture with some of the players.

As we got closer to the stadium, the car park came into sight and so did the group of fans.

Alexia quickly turned her head in my direction.
"What do you want to do?"

It was normal to stop and interact with the fans, but today was the first time since I had returned that we would be seen arriving together. If we stopped there would be photos of us together in Alexias car circling around on twitter, which would basically confirm our relationship and even if we drove straight past them there would still be rumours circling online... they were going to find out either way.

"Let's stop" I smiled.

Once we had come to a stop, Alexia rolled down her window and was immediately surrounded by Barca fans calling her name. As she signed the first few shirts, some of them noticed that I was in the passenger seat and they began to make their way around to my side of the car. I happily signed their shirts and posed for pictures with them, asking the smaller children if they were excited to watch the match and what they thought the score would be.

After a while Ale called out the window at the fans, letting them know that we needed to go, before closing the windows and pulling forward into the safety of the car park.

"That was intense" she said as we both got our bags from the back seat and headed inside.

"Yeah" I breathed as we max our way towards the stadium entrance.

"There is no hiding it now" she smiled, reaching for my hand and holding it as we walked.

The pre-game routine went smoothly. I felt great during the warm-up, my ankle felt like it was back to one-hundred percent and I was more than ready to play. On my way from the locker room to the subs bench, I walked past the starting eleven that were lined up ready for the game, high-fiving each of them as I passed.

"Good luck mi amor" I whispered as I passed Ale at the front of the line before heading out onto the pitch.

The first-half went well, a great performance from the team gave us a 3-0 lead heading into the break, with the goals coming from Pina, Aitana and Ale. During the halftime break Jonatan came up to me in the locker room to let me know I was going to be subbed on at 60 mins. Finally I was going to be back on the pitch.

60 minutes soon came and I was stood on the sideline next to the fourth official waiting to be subbed on. My number was put up on the board next to Irene's, she quickly made her way off the pitch and I finally stepped foot on the Estadi Johan Cruyff pitch again after almost two and a half years. The crowd cheered as my name was announced and I headed towards my starting position next to Mapi who sent me a cheeky smile.

Half an hour had never felt so quick, the match was over before I knew it and we had won 4-0, our final goal coming from Frido. Honestly, I was exhausted. 3 weeks off the pitch had really affected my fitness levels and I was about ready to collapse. I dragged myself around the pitch to shake hands with the Levante players before I headed straight down the tunnel and into the locker room.

I was the first one back inside, sitting down on the bench in front of my locker I took a few moments to myself to recover slightly before the rest of the team flooded in. Mapi sat down at her locker next to me, placing her hand on my shoulder.

"You ok chica?"

"Sí, just exhausted" I answered breathlessly, leaning forward with my elbows resting on my knees as my head hung down towards the floor.

"Do you want a drink?" she asked, sounding a bit concerned.

I nodded and Mapi immediately stood up and headed towards the cool boxes to get a bottle of electrolytes for me. She handed it to me as she sat down again, placing her hand on my back and rubbing it gently as I took a few sips.

"Isy... what's wrong? are you ok?" Ale called across the locker room as she bounded towards us and crouched down in front of me, her hand resting on my knee.

"It's nothing Ale" I forced a smile, placing my hand on top of hers.

"She's just done a bit too much" Mapi explained.

"I'll be fine, just need to work on fitness a bit more" I joked.

Alexia barely left my side after that and when she did I could feel her watching me out the corner of her eye. Mapi was probably right, I'd just done to much. I had been sprinting around the pitch since the moment I came on, desperately trying to prove that I was ready to be back in the eleven for the next game and it had taken it's toll on me.

As soon as we arrived home, Alexia led me to the living room and made sure I sat down. I felt fine now, but I knew that she would be like this for the rest of the day, nothing I told her would stop her worrying.

"Honestly Ale... I am fine"

"Mmmhmm" she hummed as she placed a blanket over my legs and handed me the tv remote, before fetching me a glass of water from the kitchen.

"I'm just going to call my mum quickly and then I'll come and join you" she explained.

"Oh my god, we forgot to pick up Nala!" I panicked at the mention of her mothers name.

"We didn't take her to my mums today cariño... she's over there" Ale chuckled gesturing towards the sleeping pup in the corner of the room.

"Oh..."
"Maybe I am a bit tired..."

"Yeah... maybe"