Nervously, I stepped into the Johan Cruyff stadium where our first game against Levante would be taking place in a little under two hours.

"It's going to be okay" Alexia, who had insisted on picking me up, reassured me for the millionth time.

"I just wish the game would begin already" I complained as we were walking into the changing room.

"I know, that's what you say every minute" Alexia laughed, slightly touching my arm. "But seriously, no need to worry. Let's find your clothes, okay?"

"Why are they not in numerical order?" I wondered while letting my gaze wander over all the jerseys.

"Most of us have played here for quite some time and have a preferred place to sit before a game" Alexia explained and pointed to a jersey with the number 20 on it. "There's yours. I'll meet you on the pitch for a warmup session, okay?"

I nodded, even though I wasn't really fond of the idea of having to let her go and made my way to my assigned spot. A loud sigh escaped my mouth when I saw who'd be sitting next to me.

"Good morning, princesa" Mapi greeted me with a big smile. She was already dressed in our pregame clothes and just about to put on her cleats.

"María León, always a pleasure" I grinned while taking my shirt off.

"What did I do to deserve the María treatment?"

"You're stuck with that until I finally find a nickname for you." As I stood in the changing room with nothing but underwear, I felt her gaze wandering over my body and I couldn't help but blush. Great, Ingrid's going to love this. Quickly, I pulled my jersey over my head.

"How did your evening go?" Mapi asked curiously.

"I watched Netflix and went to bed at 9 pm to prepare myself for today's match" I replied, knowing that wasn't the answer she had been looking for.

"What about your little date the evening before?"

I put my shorts on before taking a seat on the bench next to Mapi who had just finished tying her cleats. "It was good" I replied, putting on my own cleats. "How was your evening with your girlfriend?"

Mapi threw me a confused look. "I don't have a girlfriend."

"Well, maybe tell her that" I winked before getting up to look for Alexia on the pitch. As I left, I could feel Mapi's stare on my back and it sent a shiver down my spine.

Alexia was standing in the middle of the pitch doing some warmup exercises and I quickly joined her while taking in my surroundings. It was my first time inside of the Johan Cruyff Stadium. The first few fans had already settled in on the blue stands and I could see some banners asking for Mapi and Alexia's jerseys as well as Barca flags and scarfs.

"You really have some die-hard fans" I pointed to them, and Alexia followed my hand with her eyes.

"They're quite early" She noticed. "Levante hasn't even started their warmup yet."

"Better for us" I shrugged. "Wanna do a warmup run?"

Alexia nodded and we started making our way around the pitch.

"How are things going with Jenni?" I wondered.

An uncontrollable smile lit up Alexia's face. "We've been getting along so well ever since that day at the beach three weeks ago" She let me know. "I think we might be getting back together!"

"Wow, that's great news! I'm so happy for you!"

"What happened?" Keira had suddenly appeared next to us and shot us a curious grin.

"Oh, nothing, just Alexia and Jenni getting married. Don't tell anyone though" I teased her.

Keira frowned. "You're kidding, right?"

"Of course, she is" Alexia laughed, unaware of what just happened. "You guys do another lap, I need to talk to Jonatan."

"I'm gonna murder you" Keira hissed as Alexia was disappearing.

"Come on, you'll have to tell them eventually." I stopped running and grabbed a ball from the side. "I know Alexia told us to do another lap, but this seems so much better, don't you think?"

"Arsenal is playing against Real Madrid in the Champion's league qualifiers in about three weeks, so quite a few of Lucy and my friends will be in the country. We'll host a party at our apartment with them and our closest Barca friends and tell everyone about our engagement" I was informed by Keira who grabbed the ball from me.

"Are you gonna be inviting Leah Williamson?"

Keira nudged me in the side. "Yes, but hands off my best friend! And now come on, we have a game to prepare for."

The warmup with Keira got my mind off the upcoming match, but as soon as I had gone back into the changing room to change into my kit, I could feel the nervosity returning.

As I put my face into my heads, my legs were shaking uncontrollably, and I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. While I knew I wouldn't be starting, Jonatan had also made me aware that he'd sub me in after halftime. Honestly, I had always been a nervous wreck before games. At Bayern, I could excuse one bad game as I had many good ones to make up for it, but here, I had nothing in comparation. If I performed badly, the fans would form their opinion accordingly and question Jonatan's decision to bring me into the team.

Suddenly, I felt a firm grip on my thigh and stared right into Mapi's concerned eyes when I raised my head.

"I...It's just..." I failed to provide her with an explanation and just shot her a desperate look.

"Shh, it's okay, princesa. No need to talk."

I watched as her thumb softly caressed my inner thigh. Great, as if I hadn't already been nervous enough.

A quiet sigh escaped my mouth as I rested my head on Mapi's shoulder, completely exhausted from all my current emotions. I knew that Ingrid -and probably not only her- was watching us, but I couldn't care less. Surprisingly, Mapi's presence made me feel at ease and I could feel my heartbeat slowing down.

"I'm gonna make sure to provide you with the best assist ever" Mapi interrupted my thoughts. "So, you're gonna go out there and totally smash it, understood? I believe in you, princesa, and so does everyone else. You've already proven that you're an incredible player and you can do it again." I felt Mapi's lips slightly touch my temple which caused me to shiver.

"Thank you" I whispered, not lifting my head off her shoulder. Thanks to her thumb, which was still caressing me, I managed to stay calm throughout Jonatan's prep talk.

Our ways only parted when Mapi had to go on the pitch while I obviously had to stay on the bench for a bit. Nervously, I watched as the game started. Levante was defending with their lives, especially Viola Calligaris was extremely difficult to get past.

Nevertheless, a mistake made by their defender María Méndez allowed Mariona to score a beautiful goal in the 37th minute; our deadlock was broken. In the second minute of the extra time, Alexia managed to score a header and then we were off to the changing room to discuss the further progress of the game.

"Girls, you did a great job" Jonatan congratulated them. "They're doing an excellent job at defending their goal, however as you may have noticed, they haven't even gotten a chance to score yet and frankly, they're not going to. So, what we need to do is to crack their defense. I noticed that they seem to be playing in a 5-4-1 formation which, quite frankly, is insane. Their whole aim is to not let us score, not to score themselves. We're going to change our 4-4-2 formation to 3-5-2, with three attacking midfielders. I'm going to sub Emilia in for Ingrid and Jenni, you're going in for Marta. This is going to confuse them, so act fast. You're gonna start warming up right after halftime, okay?"

I nervously bit my lip. The formations both teams were going to be playing in were far from normal and added a lot of stress for me.

Mapi seemed to notice and slightly squeezed my hand as we were heading to the pitch. "You're gonna do great" She whispered and sent me a reassuring smile.

After finishing a short warmup session with Jenni, we were both subbed in in the span of a minute which definitely threw Levante off their guards, especially because a forwards was subbed in for a defender. Keira passed me the ball and I headed in the direction of Levante's goal. To shoot now would have been crazy, so I forwarded the ball to Jenni who blindly shot in the direction of the goal. Lucky for us, it actually went in. I managed to get my first assist within 5 minutes of playing!

After a short period of confusion, Levante realised what was going on and defended with all they had. I had to admit that they were doing a great job, because we didn't manage to score again until I threw a quick glance to the clock. Only 4 minutes of the regular time left. At that moment, I was standing close to Levante's goal, but with my back turned to my teammates which caused their defenders to think I wasn't paying attention. Quite frankly, they weren't that wrong, but then I felt a stare in my back and I instantly knew it was Mapi asking for my attention.

The rest was a blur as it all happened in the matter of seconds. I turned around as Mapi shot and went for the ball with my head – and it went in. It actually went in. In shock, I barely realized that Mapi had picked me up.

"You did it!" She yelled. "You fucking did it, princesa!"

Liked by marialeonn16, antonia.vargas24 and 31'639 others

emiliacortes20: +3 💙❤️ thank you for assisting my first goal of the season @marialeonn16

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marialeonn16: many more to follow<3

antonia.vargas24: proud of you!

alexiaputellas: amazing duo:)

jennihermoso: gotta thank you for the assist!!

lucybronze: 🐐

Liked by alexiaputellas, emiliacortes20 and 75'493 others

marialeonn16: +3 💙❤️ when the princesa scores her first goal @emiliacortes20

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emiliacortes20: thanks to you <3

keirawalsh: love you both

mapileon4fan: what's going on between them?

^fcbfemeni.universe: I saw them holding hands at halftime!

ingridengenworld: what about Ingrid?

^anacrnogorcevicfan: wasn't Mapi with Ana?

^barcafemeni.edits: Idk, but I miss them

^mapiandana.endgame: they need to get back together!

^anacrnogorcevicfan: agreed!!