Barça Femení BACK*
Looking back at the end of 2023 and an shouting out unsung trio helping to keep results as spectacular as ever amid an injury crisis
Bon nadal, feliz año, y felices Reyes, all!
When we last hooked up, Barça Femení had summarily dismissed what might have appeared to some as the biggest challenges of their pre-holiday 2023-24 season - and promptly run into a pair of (for this crew) actual challenges.
In league play, the trend’s persisted, with the first halves of a home tilt against Eibar and a visit to the Canary Islands and Costa Adeje Tenerife ending goalless. Fortunately, on either side of that match, Swedish champs Rosengård were on hand to serve as both generous hostesses and exceedingly low-maintenance houseguests.
Planes, Trains, Automobiles, Buses, Airport Shuttles… and Medical Transport
That is side would, at some point, have to strain at least a little bit for its results is not altogether shocking. That it´s happening now is more than explicable.
The backbone of this team is coming off of four straight Champions League final runs. Those not with Barça throughout this run - Caroline Graham Hansen, Fridolina Rolfö, Lucy Bronze, Keira Walsh - spent their time similarly with Wolfsburg, Lyon, Bayern Munich, and Man City.
In a similar vein, the overwhelming majority of this crew is also central to their respective national teams. Thus, between club commitments, last summer’s World Cup, the previous summer’s Euros, various U-whatever World Cups/Euros, qualifying campaigns, SheBelieves and Arnold Clark Cups, and whatnot, this group’s basically been playing non-stop since society returned from its COVID pause.
Break out your tiny violins and whinge about whambulances all you want. These women have gotta be exhausted.
Then there’s logistics. Three days after their November 19 home Clásico win, Barça traveled to Frankfurt. Four days later, they were in Bilbao. The “respite” of an international break required the Spanish contingent to travel to Málaga, the Norwegians to Oslo, and the English to Glasgow and London. Then, in the twelve days before the holiday break, they returned to Barcelona to take on Eibar, flew to Sweden, returned to Catalunya for a three-and-a-half-hour flight to Tenerife, and returned to take on Rosengård on December 21 at the Johan.
I don’t care if you’re traveling on the wings of angels, that sounds awful.
Then, of course, there’s the unrelenting injury epidemic.
First, a hit of good news: Bruna Vilamala returned to action against Rosengård for the first time since October 21 and looked lively in about fifteen low-leverage minutes.
Unfortunately, that match also marked Barça’s seventh in a row without Alexia Putellas. In the absence of details regarding the state of the surgically repaired left knee that cost Alexia most of last season, it was possible to simply assume an abundance of caution by Jonatan Giráldez and the club. Of course, that same silence, along with the absences of a Mapi-esque contract renewal and a token pre-holiday appearance suggested that whatever this was was not nothing.
Then, on December 26, we learned that the two-time Ballon d'Or winner, captain, talisman, and World Cup champion, would be undergoing an arthroscopic surgery on her left knee. Fortunately, the procedure, performed on Wednesday, December 27, went according to plan, though no date has yet been set for Alexia’s return.
Alexia’s absence, even from a non-midfield role, has had knock-on effects. Mariona, who’s featured more in midfield this season, is once again stepping in up front, leaving Patri Guijarro and Keira Walsh as the side’s only experienced, dedicated midfielders. Admittedly, even without Alexia, there’s been no shortage of firepower. Despite the slow starts in recent weeks, their varied and vicious attack has continued to strike.
Marta Torrejón scored the lone first half goal in the 4-0 win in Bilbao and added the sixth of seven at the Johan against Rosengård. Keira Walsh scored her first two goals of the season - the second in the 2-0 win in Tenerife and the opener on the 21st against Rosengård. Patri’s scored a pair and assisted another. Lucy Bronze has tallied three assists.
That’s just among the crew whose primary job is not putting the ball in the net.
Salma Paralleulo netted the first and third in the 3-1 win in Frankfurt and racked up three goals and two assists in the two outings against Rosengård. Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmatí has scored or assisted in five of six, with a pair of goals and four assists in her last three. Mariona scored the go-ahead goal in Frankfurt after Barça trailed 1-0 at the half, dished out assists in Bilbao and against Eibar, and scored a penalty against Rosengård. 20-year-old Dutch newcomer Esmee Brugts notched an eight-minute second half hat trick against Eibar.
Then, of course, there’s you-know-who…
Let’s see what’s shakin’ with good ‘ol CGH…
Got it. Cool.
Slow starts aside, 27 goals (21 after halftime) in six games is mostly standard fare. What’s happening at the back, however, is remarkable.
Thankfully, the last fortnight didn’t add any new names to the injury report. At the same time, it’s tough to classify the situation as “improving.”
Fridolina Rolfö still hasn’t seen the pitch this season. Irene Paredes remains out with a right quad injury - her return seems less-than-imminent. Jana Fernández, limited to just 59 minutes of action this season after losing most of ‘21-’22 and ‘22-’23 to a torn ACL, is facing another extended absence thanks to a left quad injury. That this shit keeps happening to Jana, as eminently likable as any player anywhere, is brutal. And, of course, defensive talisman and dead-ball master Mapi León is lost for the season to a torn right meniscus.
It’s not great.
And yet…
Over their last ten matches, in the face of a full-blown injury crisis, Barça Femení have conceded a solitary goal - and none in the last 498 minutes (plus stoppage time) of game time!
The Barça Femení Back Line: Stepping In and Stepping Up
This is obviously a collective achievement. That being said, as the side looks to keep this awesome run going in its post-hliday return to action this afternoon in Sant Joan Despí against Sant Joan Despí’s own FC Levante Las Planas, it would feel ridiculous to not shout the trio now anchoring Barça’s back line, each here via a distinct path, and their awesome efforts.
Ona Batlle
A confession: Prior to last summer, I’d never seen Ona Batlle play.
I was somewhat familiar with the name from reading about players who’d risen through La Masia’s ranks and the odd glance at Manchester United women’s match summaries on FlashScore. That was it.
Then, in late June, it was announced that Batlle, having completed a three-year contract with Man United, was rejoining Barça. With the July 4 departure of Nuria Rábano, the left back spot was hers.
So, I took to the YouTubes. At first blush, one sees what one expects from a Catalan La Masia product: less-than-imposing stature, incredible balance, an exquisite aptitude for processing the game, and equally slick and fluid on-pitch movement.
A little more than three months after a senior debut a dozen years in the making (she joined Barça in 2011 at age 12), the returns have been spectacular.
So, too, are the numbers. At the time of writing, Ona’s made 16 league and Champions League appearances (all victories), playing at least 79 minutes 14 times, during which she’s scored a goal, provided six assists, and Barça has conceded just two goals. It is, to say the least, impressive.
And then you watch her play. Regularly. Ideally in person but either will do. It genuinely hits different.
The biggest thing that jumps out is not just how powerful she is but how solid. See her up close and it’s immediately apparent. There’s simply no outmuscling her or knocking her off balance. This alone is the kind of thing every team wants to be able to say about its left back. Ona offers not only this but also an answer to the question: What if we made the whole plane out of laser-sighted fast-twitch muscle fiber?
There’s a fascinating sequence in the second half in Tenerife. Sadly, I can’t show you these plays since neither ended in a goal and neither YouTube - vast, endless YouTube - nor DAZN (which streams the games here in Spain, and for which I pay) offer anything more expansive than eight-ish-minute highlight packages comprised mostly of pre-/post-game shit and replays of the same half-dozen-or-so plays.
Anyway…
In the second half in Tenerife, with Barça leading 1-0, Costa Adeje Tenerife are attacking down the right. Near the touchline just to the left of the Barça goal, Ona, defending either Jassina Blom or Claudia Blanco (apologies - I wish I could confirm this), get positively ROASTED. In a single motion she’s both turned around and falls to a knee. Incredibly, in a single, fluid motion, she regains her feet, squares up, and makes the tackle. It’s “nothing” to some, I suppose, but for anyone who watched it and saw the replays, it’s an awesome feat of physical strength, awareness, and composure.
That she similarly ties a defender in knots at the other end a couple of minutes later is a fun reminder of just fleeting any upper hand on the future (if not current) best left back in the sport is, and that, with the shoe on the other foot, just how much opposing defenses must guard against…
Ingrid Engen
Nearly 15 years ago, renowned author-turned-asshat Michael Lewis wrote a piece for The New York Times Magazine declaring Shane Battier, then of the NBA’s Houston Rockets (whose general manager at the time was Lewis’s friend Daryl Morey) a “no stats All-Star.”
I don’t want to litigate Battier’s career. He was a perfectly fine player who had a good career. He was, at that point, coming off of four valuable seasons for some Memphis Grizzlies and Rockets teams that never advanced past the first round. (A quick aside: That author of The Big Short called the top of a market is fitting). He was a high-end role player. Cool. No shame in that.
On a related (in my head at least) note, as I have neither the financial incentive (all offers will be considered) nor an inborn water-carrying inclination I will avoid glib hyperbole and simply say this:
After Ingrid Engen’s first two seasons at Barça, during which she played in midfield, I didn’t think she was cut out for this team. She wasn’t by any means a bad player. She just doesn’t possess the intuitive feel and snap decision-making required of a front-seven player for this squad.
I can't overstress that this is not meant as an insult. I have no doubt that she could have thrived as a midfielder elsewhere. However, an effective element of this team’s attack she wasn't.
As the defensive injuries mounted, out of necessity, she was moved to the back line - and she’s been fantastic. Neither spectacular nor statistically prolific but strong, tough, intelligent, hard-working, and, with Mapi gone, the stabilizing force in the middle of defense.
Martina Fernández
One of the inaugural group of nine Barça Femení B players chosen in August 2021 to not just study and train at La Masia but also live on a designated floor at the Oriol Tort Training Center.
When she came on as a 73rd-minute substitute against Levante on February, 2, 2022, Martina, then 17 years, 4 months, and one day old, became the sixth youngest in Barça Femeni first team debutant (Vicky López has since bumped her to seventh) since the side professionalized in 2015. Less than two years later, she’s been called upon to not only offer depth but is genuinely picking up the slack at the back for a trio of Ballon d’Or-worthy defenders.
Prior to November 26, Martina, who turned 19 in October, had seen the pitch as a senior player for barely an hour this season. She’s since featured in each of Barça’s last five matches - five wines by a combined 24-0 - picked up her first senior goal…
… and seemingly staked her claim to first team Blaugrana football for the foreseeable future.
Life comes atcha fast. When you’re ready for it it’s pretty damn sweet.