Not many players choose to leave Barcelona on multiple occasions.
Vicky Losada has done just that – three times to be precise – with each of her exits marking a symbolic step in the growth of Barcelona’s women’s team.
After progressing through the club’s esteemed La Masia academy, Losada first left Barcelona in 2007 following their relegation to the second tier.
They bounced straight back and Losada returned the following season. However, with the club not becoming a professional outfit until summer 2015, Losada left to join Arsenal in March of that year. She came back for her third bite of the Barca cherry 20 months later.
“I went abroad to be professional and I came back to a club that was professional,” Losada told 90min.
The midfielder emotionally announced her departure from Barcelona for a third time in June 2021; a little over a fortnight after she had captained the club to their maiden Champions League title.
“I think it was the perfect way,” she explains. “Winning the Champions League helped me because it was my dream to do it defending those colours. As a footballer and with such a long career you know when you’re [at] an end of a cycle.
“I think that was my time to go, and I was never expecting that good bye and all the love from all the fans, and I was never expecting how much women’s football was going to grow. I actually still look at photos and feel so lucky that I’ve lived through that in my career.”
Some of the most iconic pictures from that famous night in Gothenburg are of Losada; Champions League trophy clasped in her hand and nets draped around her shoulders like a scarf.
“When I was growing up I couldn’t watch women’s football because they weren’t showing it on TV, so my dreams came from the men’s football,” Losada says. “So I always remember [Gerard] Pique taking the nets with Barca, and you just want to be like that when you win.
“It was a great moment to take a bit of the net – I mean I think we nearly took all of it… I have just a little piece at home. I feel so lucky how everything ended and everything that Barca has given me.”
Barcelona’s achievements during the 2020/21 season had been years in the making. Since turning professional, the club’s philosophy has been to invest in their crop of first team and academy players; Losada was one of nine La Masia graduates in the squad for Barcelona’s 2020/21 Champions League triumph.
This approach did not garner success overnight.
Barcelona finished as league runners up to Atletico…
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