London City Lionesses: Alexia Putellas' Impact on WSL Season

Seven years ago, the idea would have sounded like a fever dream. Millwall Lionesses breaking away, reborn as London City Lionesses, then opening a WSL season in Bromley with Alexia Putellas – yes, that Alexia Putellas – wearing the armband and dictating the tempo.

Yet here she was.

The former Barcelona captain, two-time Ballon d’Or winner and serial Champions League conqueror, bending down for the coin toss as she always has, referees and cameras alike recalibrating to a new reality. The ritual is the same, the stage very different. No Camp Nou, no 90,000 crowds, no team schooled for years in one ultra-refined style. Instead, a second-season WSL club on the edge of London, still building an identity, now fronted by one of the most recognisable players in the sport.

On the pitch, this is a step down from a three-time European champion. Off it, the gap is closing fast. Owner Michele Kang has made it her mission to strip away excuses and provide elite conditions. The new world-class training facility is already approved. Before kick-off, she walked the perimeter in a home shirt with “Kang 27” on the back, stopping for photos with fans, a very visible counterpoint to the man who owns the opposition, Jim Ratcliffe, and his bleak, dismissive comments about his women’s teams.

Putellas emerged from the tunnel to a roar at a sold-out Bromley FC, the noise bouncing around a tight ground that suddenly felt much bigger. She led London City out with that familiar, icy focus, only briefly broken by a quick smile and a few words for the mascot gripping her hand as if it were a lifeline.

Here, on the outskirts of London, the 32-year-old got her first real taste of the new chapter. This was not a vintage Alexia performance, not the sort that once bent Champions League finals to her will. It was solid, controlled, human. The show-stealers came from elsewhere in sky blue: Rosa Kafaji buzzing between the lines, Lucía Corrales electric down the flank until her evening ended grimly, taken off on a stretcher after overstretching for a ball late on.

“Everybody knows what [Putellas] can create and bring to us,” said head coach Eder Maestre afterwards. “It’s not just the things she’s capable of doing, it’s the things she facilitates for other players too.

“Having this kind of player in the squad is very important because she represents the highest standards and having her involved in it is not only because of her performance, but also because of the leadership she can bring in terms of helping us to reach that standard. But it is not only about Alexia, she is only one player, and I think the most impactful thing was the way everybody connected, the chemistry that we are building around the players.”

That chemistry is Maestre’s biggest assignment. London City have been rebuilt with a flurry of new faces, including former England No 1 Mary Earps. On this night, though, Earps watched from the bench as Elene Lete got the nod in goal.

“Mary had some issues in pre-season so that was why there was inconsistency in game involvement,” Maestre explained. “We have two strong goalkeepers. Today, Elene deserved to be in the lineup. She was very strong in her actions.”

Maestre talks about an identity rooted in what football felt like as children – instinctive, joyful, bold. The players delivered that from the first whistle. They pressed high, snapped into tackles, attacked with a kind of organised abandon. It was not always clean, not always pretty, but it looked like fun. And when the breakthrough came nine minutes in, it felt inevitable.

Alanna Kennedy climbed, applied the pressure, and chaos did the rest. With Kennedy rising over a crouched Julia Zigiotti Olme, the United midfielder could only glance the ball into her own net. A messy goal, a brutal welcome to the WSL spotlight for new Manchester United manager Eva Olid.

The fixture list has not been kind to Olid: Chelsea and Arsenal await next. On this evidence, though, there may not be such a thing as a “gentle” introduction for this United squad, especially after a flat summer window. They were second-best all over the pitch in Bromley, finishing with just 40% of the ball and rarely threatening to turn the tide.

They did muster three shots, but by the time they began to stir, London City had already slammed the door. The second goal came with a touch of class. Mapi León’s corner was recycled cleverly, worked out to Delphine Cascarino on the flank. The French forward whipped in a cross and Daniëlle van de Donk, alive to the angle, produced a deft flick into the far corner. One move, two touches of pure quality, and United’s hopes of a comeback were gone.

“It’s a process,” Olid said. “I think it was something more mental in the first half, we could feel like the players were not believing.

“At half-time I say that this is not us, we need the ball to be ourselves … in the second half, we were building through the middle, finding the free player, playing between the lines. That is us, and I can feel my team in the second half. It’s my job to help them to believe that we can always be the team of the second half.”

United did at least leave with a late consolation. Deep into added time, a free-kick broke loose on the edge of the box and Simi Awujo crashed the ball into the unguarded space. It was a sharp finish, a flicker of what Olid wants this team to become, but it did nothing to alter the feel of the night.

By then, London City’s work was done. They had dominated, they had entertained, and they had shown that this project is more than a marquee signing and a wealthy owner with big plans. It is a team beginning to believe in itself.

For Putellas, it was not about headlines or highlight reels. It was about walking out in a different shade of blue, hearing a new crowd rise to greet her, and helping shape a side that suddenly looks ready to trouble the established order.

If this is the foundation, what does the ceiling look like?