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Under the Christmas lights of Barcelona, we head to Diagonal Mar. At the Fútbol Emotion store, a group of young culés begins to queue. In a while they are going to see one of their idols: Ona Batlle (Vilassar de Mar, 1999). The full-back, who returned to FC Barcelona just a year ago, is one of the leaders of this new generation of Barça players. Despite his youth, he has won practically everything and has established himself wherever he has played.
Where does your passion for football come from?
In my family we have always played a lot of soccer. In fact, my father is a big football fan and today he still plays from time to time. I started with my brother in the backyard and in front of my grandmother’s house. At the same time, I told my mother that I wanted to be like my brother, I also wanted to play soccer.
How old were you?
Six or seven years.
With six you start, and with 17 you are in the Barça first team. Truly unbeatable. How did your brother do?
Keep playing and I would tell you that he could even have more quality than me. It’s very good. He plays as a midfielder, he is the one who gives the last passes… We would make a good combination.
Would you have liked to be a midfielder too, or have you always wanted to be a full-back?
From the beginning, already in Soccer 7, I played as a winger. Yes, it is true that I have been changing my position, as I continue to do today with bands.
So, were you one of those who always played in the yard?
Yes, yes. With my friends, and I even went with my brother to play with his friends. He is three years older and after school we would go to a park or a track and I would play with them.
Speaking of childhood. This month the PlayStation turned 30 years old. Were you one of those who played?
Yes, I have been playing Play a lot, especially with my brother. I remember playing FIFA a lot at home.
And now, what do you think about appearing in that same video game? It has to be amazing, right?
It’s cool. I like it a lot. In the end, when your friends or people say: “Hey, you played me in FIFA, I’m playing with you”, the truth is that it’s very cool.
And in that sense, being part of all this establishes you as a new reference. How do you handle being a reference for younger women?
Honestly, I have to think about it from time to time. I don’t feel like a reference or a person they can admire or follow. I still feel like a normal person, very much from home, from all my life. People idolize you, but in the end we are all equal.
“When I was little I went to the Camp Nou a lot and I loved seeing Carles Puyol. “He was the leader and the reference of the team”
But do you notice the responsibility every time you communicate?
Obviously. Now we have this social power that we can take advantage of to express ourselves and try to make this world a little better place.
Now you are a reference, but what were yours when you were starting?
When I was little I went to the Camp Nou a lot and I loved seeing Carles Puyol. He was the leader and the reference of the team. He always left his head or body for others.
So, with the injury you got in the Bilbao final, did you feel a little Puyol? (In the 2024 Champions League final, the winger received a blow to the cheekbone after colliding with a rival’s cleats)
Let’s see, (laughs) I didn’t feel that way, but we could say yes.
Last season you returned to Barça, but how did you get to La Masia?
He came to Barça when he was eleven years old. From that moment I remember a phrase that I will have engraved forever: “Getting to Barça is easy, but maintaining the level, and staying up to the elite, is the most difficult.” That marked me. He made it clear to me that you have to maintain the level and learn to be able to survive, because in the end if you are always on the same step you stagnate.
Therefore, you left Barça, and went through Madrid CFF, Levante and Manchester United, in search of that progression?
Completely. When I left Barça I felt that I had the ability to be playing in the First Division, but I saw that that opportunity was not going to come to me at that moment. Although I would be training with the first team, what I wanted was to play in the First Team and I was qualified for it. I left and looked for my way to be the soccer player I wanted to be.
What does it mean to defend the colors of Manchester United? Having on your resume that you have played for FC Barcelona and Manchester United must be very special.
When I arrived I noticed the greatness of the team. I think it is one of the most historic clubs in football. It’s a club sir. I loved the experience, and it is engraved in my heart. Because of the way they treated me and the years I was there, I will always have a lot of appreciation for them.
This summer we have seen that Mariona Caldentey has gone to Arsenal and Lucy Bronze to Chelsea… More and more players are leaving for the Women Super League. What do they have in England that we don’t have? Why is your league becoming more and more attractive?
Years ago the English league began to invest a lot in the media, in terms of facilities, infrastructure… They are far ahead of us. Yes, it is true that in Spain we are going little by little, very little by little, but we are going in that direction. That, for example, there is a day in which all the women’s league teams play in the clubs’ main stadiums is something that I think will take many years to happen in Spain. I think it’s very cool to have the experiences you have there in England.
Is there something about the environment that could be different?
Being able to play in such special stadiums, with the fans also being so involved… It’s true that the stadiums don’t fill you up, but little by little they open them up and attract more people.
I wish it happened here.
Yes, someday, hopefully. I think it will pass.
The damn question then is… Would you like to return to England at some point?
Nowadays I am very good at Barça, that is the reality and I only think about today. But it is true that my experience in England was very good and I have very good memories. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but for now I only see myself in Barça.
At 25 years old you have won practically everything…
Yes, but there are still things left.
“When I was little I wanted to be a veterinarian. And being a police officer now also catches my attention.”
You have been non-stop for four years between the Euro Cup, the World Cup, the Olympic Games and this summer the Euro Cup again. How is all this managed?
When the season started with FC Barcelona it was a tough moment mentally. For a period I tried not to push myself to be 100% because I was still recovering, mostly. I had quite significant fatigue. But they are helping us. Also, from time to time, they give us days off and I try to enjoy the time I have as much as possible, I can go home and be with my friends, do things… More than anything to be able to enjoy and have that little time to disconnect. I think that in the end the most important thing is that mental pause.
After a year in which you won everything with Barça, and in the summer you lost in the Olympic Games, how do you recover to push yourself to the maximum again?
What motivated me to return this season was, precisely, having lost. Having done the Olympic Games that we did, in which there were mistakes and, obviously, we did not get a medal. That makes you have that motivation to want to start over and want to win everything again. I think that we are all very demanding and we are very competitive, we want to win everything and when it is taken out of your hands that is when you say “I should have done this” or “next time I want to do that.” Therefore, on a day-to-day basis it is what matters most.
What challenges do you have left to meet?
I try to be a better footballer every day. Being able to contribute in different ways, in the way the team needs me, both on the field and off it. I focus on those small details that make the team improve and that I, as a footballer and person, can also continue to grow.
If Ona Batlle was not a footballer, what would she have been?
When I was little I wanted to be a veterinarian. And being a police officer now also catches my attention.
There’s still time, right?
There is time for everything.
Up to what age would you like to play?
I would tell you that until 35, most likely.
Then we have Ona Batlle for a while.
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Photographs provided by Fútbol Emotion.
