Mapi Leon’s phrase after the final reveals how the players felt when they arrived in San Mamés | Relief
“This is it… We already won, girls.”. This phrase belongs to Mapi Leon while recording from a bus of Barça fans who filled the streets of Bilbao on the way to San Mamés. A journey full of emotions in which the players felt the power of a fan who also made history. “They move the world” was the team’s motto upon arrival at the finals. The truth is that they mobilized more than 40,000 Barcelona fans ahead of the Champions League final against Olympique Lyonnais, which Barça eventually won 2–0. This was the club’s second largest grassroots movement, including men’s and women’s, since the 1986 European Cup in Seville, which attracted 50,000 people. It was yet another untold prize for the most popular women’s team in the world.
According to Mapi Leon, who was responsible for showing this video before the match, the feeling in the dressing room is palpable. This became additional motivation for the Barça team to win the third Champions League, for the second time in a row. Never before in Spanish or even world women’s football has there been such mobilization for a match. “When we arrived on the bus and saw that all the streets were full of people, I got goosebumps and I had no choice but to think that we can’t lose,” Aitana Bonmati, who recounted, said after the game how the team remembered what happened in Turin. with another big shift, although nowhere near that, when they lost the final to Lyon.
As for Mapi, the central defender who was given a sick leave in the previous round and was able to sit on the bench, she even records seeing her parents among the mass of fans applauding a passing bus. “I saw your parents, Mapi,” Yana Fernandez tells him. “Where? It’s true, now I’ve seen them,” the Barça player said excitedly during her video.
It was a difficult final for her as she was unable to arrive in time to recover from her injury. “He had an injury. It had been six months, so I knew it was too close. So I took it easy. Calm down, and what could be better than being called up today and enjoying it with the team, because it’s terrible outside,” she admitted TVE.
In this regard, he stated that it was “horrible” to experience it from the outside due to nerves. “Terrible, terrible. I had a terrible time, a lot of nerves… And joy because we won four titles, because this was our third Champions League and because it was a game against Lyon.“After the final whistle, Mapi Leon admitted that he had not forgotten his lucky flag and was carrying it in his suitcase.
This amulet has often cheered up his teammates in recent important games. He was not missed in San Mamés during the celebration of a significant event for the culés. A special day when two awards were presented: the Champions League and a social boom in the streets. Today, many girls and boys have a special connection with Barça and this category..