Putellas insists Barça “always strive for excellence” and makes key Real Madrid admission | OneFootball

Alexia Putellas insisted that Barcelona “always strive for excellence” and revealed the areas “we need to improve on” after picking up a monumental victory against Real Madrid in the first leg of the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-finals.

A dominant display from Pere Romeu’s side at the Estadio Alfredo di Stéfano on Wednesday saw Barça emerge with a 6-2 win, which they will seek to defend next Thursday at the Spotify Camp Nou.

Given the ongoing renovation works at the stadium, Barcelona will not be able to replicate the 91,553-strong crowd that witnessed their comeback victory against Real Madrid at this stage of the competition four years ago, but as first reported by SPORT, club sources indicate that more than 35,000 tickets have already been sold.

Putellas was named as the Player of the Match by UEFA’s Technical Observer Group, who noted that the 32-year-old “played excellently, controlling the game, finding spaces to receive and making penetrative runs beyond that stretched the opposition. Her movement took her all across the pitch, creating chances at every opportunity.”

Speaking to 3Cat after the match, Putellas was quick to insist that despite the scoreline, there is still work to do and that Barça must not become complacent ahead of next week’s decisive second leg.

“It’s a 180-minute tie, so we’ve got 90 minutes left,” she explained.

“We’ve done a great job and we’re really happy. We always strive for excellence and we’re looking forward to the match at the Spotify Camp Nou with our fans.

“Who wouldn’t want a full Camp Nou? We’ll go out to win for our fans and to give our all for this badge.”

The blaugrana needed just six minutes to open the scoring in the Spanish capital on Wednesday, and Putellas reflected that “in these knockout ties, the sooner you get ahead, the more it can mentally unsettle the other team.

“It was tricky to control Real Madrid’s transitions,” she conceded, “and those are areas we need to work on, but we’re on a very positive path and we’re raring to go.”