BARCELONA, Spain — It was nearly 7 p.m. in Barcelona as Alexia Putellas stood alone in the corner of a sold-out Spotify Camp Nou, bowing to the Barcelona fans after opening the scoring against Real Madrid in Thursday’s UEFA Women’s Champions League quarterfinal second leg.
Putellas’ 230th Barça goal — on her 500th appearance for the club — marked the start of another special night for the Catalan side, who went on to win 6-0, setting up a semifinal with Bayern Munich after a resounding 12-2 aggregate win against Madrid.
For Madrid, they will be glad this week is over after being completely humiliated by their Clásico rivals over the course of three meetings in eight intense days.
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In the space of a year, they have gone from beating Barça for the first time since their foundation to looking mentally beaten each time they step onto the pitch to face the Blaugrana. A 6-2 loss in the first leg last Wednesday was followed by a 3-0 defeat in Liga F at the weekend, a result which took Barça to the brink of a seventh successive league title.
Madrid’s misery was complete on Thursday as a brace from Caroline Graham Hansen and goals from Irene Paredes, Ewa Pajor and Esmee Brugts followed Putellas’ opener, handing Barça an easy win that was in no way flattering.
There is something about playing at Camp Nou that brings this team alive. Playing here for the first time since it reopened — with a crowd of 60,067, the highest for any fixture, men’s or women’s, since the revamp — they did not let up from the first whistle until the last.
“Our intention was to go out as if the tie was level,” Putellas told ESPN.
Pau Quesada’s Madrid side can have no excuses. They are in the last eight of the Champions League for the second consecutive season on merit. They should not be capitulating as they have over the last week — no matter how good Barça have been.
What will be most infuriating for Madrid is that it felt like the gap was closing when they beat Barça last March. Before then, they could point to coming into the women’s game late and the fact that they were playing catch-up.
Since that defeat, though, Barça have put their foot down again. The players have spoken about being extra motivated by the idea that Madrid were getting closer. This season’s six meetings have ended 25-2 in Barça’s favor.
It has been a humiliation for Madrid, who now must regroup and find a way to go again next season.
At the center of it all has been Putellas. Her opening goal moved her to within two of César Rodríguez (232) on the club’s all-time scorers list. Only Lionel Messi (672) has scored more for either the men’s or women’s teams.
It was another slice of history as well: Putellas was the first woman to score at the old Spotify Camp Nou — against Espanyol in 2021 — and is now also the first to net at the refurbed Camp Nou.
She then turned provider for Graham Hansen to head in Barça’s second. Paredes added the third and Pajor scored the fourth before halftime. It would have been more but for some smart saves from Misa Rodríguez in the Madrid goal — she made five saves with a GPrv (goals prevented) of 1.62.
Barça didn’t ease up in the second half, roared on by a crowd hungry to see Madrid punished, but found scoring goals harder. Graham Hansen added her second of the evening after more good work from Putellas, with Brugts completing the rout late on.
As 9 p.m. approached in Barcelona, shortly after the final whistle, Barça’s players then changed into shirts carrying “Putellas 500” on them in recognition of their captain’s latest milestone. They then grouped and hoisted her into the air as supporters chanted “Alexia.”
“It was a complete surprise what [my teammates] had prepared,” Putellas said. “I am very happy. It’s thanks to all the teammates I have had that I am here today.
“There are no words to describe everything right now. It’s been magical. When they said it would be my 500th game in this fixture, it was like… wow.”
You would imagine the 32-year-old will have more nights ahead like this, although it is not a given. Her contract is up this summer and, while president Joan Laporta wants to renew her terms, nothing has been signed yet.
Before then, though, she has more business to attend to. Bayern Munich are up next as Barça target a sixth successive Champions League final — with Putellas and Co. desperate to make up for last season’s final defeat to Arsenal.
