Simple and direct; mature, but sensitive. Patri Guijarro (Mallorca, 26 years old) is more than a veteran at Barcelona. His extroverted character – although with a touch of shyness under the spotlight – is demonstrated by smiling and expounding shamelessly before the sun that falls on the stands of the Estadi Johan Cruyff. One of the captains, an undisputed starter as a Barça player and also in the National Team, to which she returned last summer. With Barça she has won everything, and was recently awarded November MVP in the F League. Outside of football she tries to disconnect, “socialize” with her people, and now she is studying graphic design after leaving physiotherapy in her fourth year of studies. incompatibilities to finish it. This Wednesday they will meet Manchester City again (6:45 p.m., Dazn and TV3) in the last match of the Champions group stage, hoping to reverse the first defeat. Accustomed to playing as a pivot, she had to replace Alexia Putellas as an interior when she was injured with a cruciate injury in 2022. A year earlier, in the Champions League final in Göteborg, she played as a center back against Chelsea. And in the 2023 Eindhoven final he scored the two goals that tied the score against Wolfsburg and allowed Barcelona to win the Champions League again.
Ask. For the impossible, Patri Guijarro.
Answer. It flatters me (laughs). I have had to adapt, but luckily I have been good at it. Just like in his day I did it as a center back, and I did as well as I could (laughs), also as an interior player. It was not easy then to replace the best player in the world due to unfortunately a very serious injury. I had to understand that we were different, and that I didn’t contribute the same as Alexia, but I tried. I had played in that position, but in lower categories.
Q. Do you feel undervalued in individual awards?
R. I don’t like these things very much. I don’t pay much attention. I feel valued in the club, by my teammates, and for me that is what is important. I feel that they trust me, that is what fulfills me and I enjoy sports and football. Also, I don’t really like going to galas (laughs). Although I am extroverted, I am very embarrassed, and I am not motivated by individual awards.
Q. And what motivates you?
R. Improve. What I contribute to the team every year, seeing the growth and leap that women’s soccer has taken. Before we were at a very different level than today, it is evident. This year, what motivates me is to win the four titles again and be better. And let it be said and known: Barça’s success has not been something temporary. There is a lot of work behind it.
Q. Was there any talk at the beginning of the season about Keira Walsh’s situation and management in midfield?
R. No. It has happened that way. Against City, in fact, we both started playing with a double pivot. It is the hard part of this sport. We are two great players, and there is a bit of that “fight” within sports. Keira is very good, but we are very mature and if one or the other has to play, in the end we help each other. The coach decides and you have to contribute to the team in the position you are in. It’s difficult, but we have also enjoyed it together, and we continue to do so. These years have been very good to her.
Q. This Wednesday they meet again with Manchester City.
R. It is a difficult week, with trips and away games, with little time to train, and in the end fatigue accumulates. But the team is good, and it shows. The game was lost on us, and now we want revenge.
Q. What has changed since that defeat?
R. The team mentality. Yes, we lost against City, but they also played a great game, at home. They are a good team, that plays well, and in a more competitive league than ours. This made us change our mindset: we are Barça, with some great players, but we are also human. We have to learn from that game, from the mistakes we made, especially in the first half, when we felt more uncomfortable. We are calmer, with more confidence.
Q. Next year he will celebrate a decade at Barcelona.
R. Ten years, yes… I arrived in 2015, when I was 17. It has flown by. When he was six years old he already said: “Wow, I’ve been there for six years” (laughs).
Q. And now what do you think?
R. I feel pride. I am in the best club in the world. We have managed to win… I was going to say a Champions League, but we have three! (laughs). It is said soon. Last year we won everything, but it is very complicated, even if it becomes normal that Barça always has to win.
Q. How has it changed?
R. A lot, so many things have happened… The first year was hard. In the first two I managed to mature as a person, as a woman, and the rest I grew as a footballer. These last few years, after everything I have experienced, which have been difficult for me in sports, I have also changed my way of seeing things.
Q. What does it refer to?
R. I have learned that football is selfish, although it is a collective sport. Everyone has to be selfish in their area. I live it differently, I am selfish, but in a different way. It has been a learning experience inside my head.
Q. She has been considered a veteran for years despite her age.
R. That means that I am a mature person, they trust me on and off the field. It is also thanks to what I have learned in Mallorca, in Collerense, with my friends and my family, and also what they have taught me here. I have been a sponge, and thank goodness (laughs).
Q. Are you homesick for Mallorca?
R. Yes of course. It’s always hard to leave so young. But I don’t regret anything, it was a very good choice. I try to go as much as I can, but after so many trips, my family usually comes. When I go and look back I say: “How good it is to live here.” In the future I would love to live there, but you never know, because I feel very good in Barcelona.
Q. He 12 He wears it because of his mother.
R. I had several numbers in Collerense when I started playing in First Division. I always liked eight. My mother told me to wear the 12: it was her birthday, and she wore it when she was little when she played volleyball. In the end I stayed with him. Also, since people don’t like it very much, it makes me like it more (laughs).
Q. Why did you return to the National Team?
R. One of the keys was Markel [Zubizarreta]. It’s strange that he’s not here now, and that he wasn’t at the Games too, I didn’t expect it. It’s not his fault, I understand the secrecy and I’m happy for him, for what he’s experiencing. Also Gonzalo [Rodríguez] It’s still there, although not in the same role. They assured me that the conditions had changed, the basic ones to be professionals: nutrition, travel, better rest, training in the field you play, using the gym when you have to… are some of the changes that have occurred. Is there anything left to improve? We all know that.
