Barely 19 years old, the young Barcelona footballer pilots La Roja to the final of the Australia-New Zealand World Cup.
She left athletics to lead Spain to an unexpected Women’s World Cup final. La Roja is in the final game of the tournament to be played in New Zealand and Australia, and much of the blame lies with Salma Paralluelo, the barely 19-year-old FC Barcelona footballer.
Last August, Paralluelo (Zaragoza, 2003) stunned the football world by being named best footballer in the U-20 World Cup. At that time, he still maintained a double demand in two high-quality sports: in addition to football, he shone in athletics. But the call from FC Barcelona changed everything: he had to lean towards a collective sport where his physique allows him to fly on the pitch.
Salma hesitated for years between the two sports that made her happy, but she chose to make millions of Spaniards happy. Especially during the World Cup in Australia-New Zealand, where he was key for the national team, scoring a goal in extra time in the quarter-final against the Netherlands and the first goal in Sweden’s 2-1 defeat in the semi-final. On both occasions, he came off the bench to revolutionize the game by playing in all offensive positions.
The decision to retire from athletics was not an easy one. “Where others see the obligation to choose, we see opportunities to shine in what we intend to do. Do what you think you can do, only you know your abilities,” she wrote on her social networks at the time.
Winner of the U-17 World Cup and the U-20 World Cup, she spoke to her professional environment, assessed her options, heard the idea of participating in two Olympic cycles as an athlete and then returning to football, but all conversations revolved around the best employment position.
Paralluelo, a specialist in the 400 meters and 400 meters hurdles, continues to run, but he does so on the grass of a football pitch to pursue his World Cup dream with Jorge Vilda’s team. At noon on Sunday, barely a few months after winning the second Champions League in FC Barcelona’s history, he will once again dress short and try to achieve the most incredible and unexpected goal of all.
Source: Goal