Up until she tore her ACL 12 months ago, Alexia Putellas was the undisputed best player in the world. The Barcelona superstar had won two consecutive Ballon d’Or awards and had won everything at club level, with Spain success the only thing separating her from the immortals in women’s football.
She recovered from her knee injury in time to travel to Australia and New Zealand and played in all seven games during La Roja’s historic title run. She didn’t play consistently well and showed there is still work to be done to return to her very best version, but Alexia was still an important piece of a Spanish side that goes down in history.