Say Hello to Alexia 2.0
On Alexia's date with history and evolution in a new role
Sunday in Madrid, shortly after 7:30 pm local time, Esmee Brugts received a pass on the right wing from Ona Battle. In a single motion, she released a pass that bounded past and curled around two Atlético de Madrid defenders. Patri Guijarro met but didn’t touch the ball at the top of the box, allowed it to run in, and, from the right of the penalty spot, squared it with her first touch. There, between a pair of Atleti defenders was Alexia, who, with a sliding, left-footed poke, sent the ball off Atleti goalkeeper Lola and into the net.
The strike was crucial in the moment, as it was the only goal in a tight contest between Liga F’s at-the-time second- and third-placed teams. The goal, plus a couple of solid saves by Cata Coll, ensured Barça Femení all three points, running their total to 15, and reclaiming their top spot in the table from also unblemished Real Madrid.
The goal’s big-picture impact was even greater, as it put Alexia, yet again, in a class of her own.
Climbing the Pantheon
A week prior at the Estadi Johan Cruyff, in scoring the second in a 3-0 win over Real Sociedad, Alexia tied Jenni Hermoso’s Barça Femení goal-scoring record of 181. With this, her 182nd - on the ninth anniversary of her first-ever Champions League goal - she now stands further alone in the history of Barça women’s football.
And FC Barcelona, full stop?
With another half dozen goals she’ll pass José Samitier and crack the top five. At that point, she’ll sit ten shy of Luis Suárez (198) for third, with Laszlo Kubala (194) in between.
Before we move on, let’s take a brief moment to again appreciate Lionel Messi's absurdity. Ok! Let’s keep it moving.
In her seven full seasons before tearing her ACL in 2022, Alexia averaged almost exactly 20 goals per season. At that pace, she’ll enter the top three by the end of this season. From there, it’s César Rodríguez’s #2 tally of 230, which, at 20-per-season, she’ll reach during the 2025-26 season.
This assumes Alexia is unable to recapture the prolific pace from the two seasons before her injury, when she scored 60 goals in 86 matches. She is now 29 and, again, has a major injury on her CV. At the same time, this woman is a true one-of-one and is already back to an elite level. There's also one other thing.
The Rise of “AP9”
In the finale of Alexia: Labor Omnia Vincit ("Work conquers all"), a three-part documentary released in November 2022 by Amazon, Alexia, then rehabbing her surgically-repaired left knee, speaks openly about her career. She plainly says “that Alexia is gone... however I come back, I’m going to be different.”
It’s not taken long to get a sense of what this looks like.
Now, I’m no master tactician. Fortunately, I’ve not had to be to sniff out the shift in Alexia’s on-pitch role with Barça, to the #9 role.
That she’s got the positional versatility to do this is no surprise. After all, we’ve seen Alexia drop practically into defense to collect the ball, pull strings from midfield, and spearhead the attack as both a passer and a finisher. For all practical purposes, there’s nothing that’s beyond this woman on the pitch. She did, after all, tally 42 goals and 32 assists in calendar 2021.
Even so, actually seeing her up front, in the middle, putting her own spin on the role has been fascinating. She still drops back, though not as deep. These days, she dictates terms from the front. Given all she still does, there’s an understandable temptation to classify Alexia as a “false 9.” After all, she’s neither a goal monster like Erling Haaland nor a pure poacher like late-period Cristiano. But, rather than thinking in terms of “true” and “false,” the best way to think of Alexia at the 9 is “complete.”
She’s the perfect “pass-through” at the top of the box. She receives passes from midfield and pings the ball within the box or out to the wing, in a single motion, not unlike another creative savant (you’ve been forewarned - basketball analogies will be abundant here), two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić.
When the ball gets to her deeper in the box, her ability to receive it with her back to the goal, hold off a defender, and, for lack of a better term, “pass out of the post” is simply phenomenal. Reminiscent of LeBron or late-period Magic Johnson. Somewhat amusingly, she’s taken it upon herself to derail attempts to waste time by blitzing opposing keepers to force hurried goal kicks. And she’s starting to get awfully close to some deflections!
And there’s still the scoring. She’s now scored in three straight matches - from open play in the last two - and is getting increasingly comfortable in her new role.
Even in the unlikely event that she doesn’t further hone her “strikerly qualities, the player that she already is, as a scorer, passer, and reader of the game is more than enough. Up front she gives Barça yet another world-class difference-maker at yet another position. Even better, the move decongests a very deep midfield (not that Alexia would be congesting anything) and clears the path for the world’s best non-Alexia in “the Alexia role,” Patri.