A move to the right, a move to the left. In front of the blue panel bearing the VISA and UEFA logos, Alexia Putellas has now settled in.
Spain's number 11 has just passed by twice in four days, carrying the famous long trophy topped by a ball: that of best player of the match.
The two-time Ballon d'Or winner is enjoying a flamboyant European Championship in Switzerland, and already has three goals and two assists to her name in two matches, which ended in 6-2 wins over Belgium on Monday and 5-0 over Portugal on Thursday.
These successes bode well for the world champions, who have never progressed beyond the quarter-finals of a European Championship.
Their last elimination at this stage of the competition came in 2022, when they lost 2-1 after extra time to England. The Lionesses went on to be crowned European champions, while Putellas was on the operating table after rupturing her cruciate ligament during training before the start of the Euros.
An injury of the past
The player who had won just one Ballon d'Or at the time began the classic ordeal of a top-level player who suffers such an injury: a year's absence, cautious recovery, a gradual return to the pitch...
Putellas would receive medical clearance to play again for the first time at the very end of the 2022-23 season, before having to return to the hospital for an arthroscopy on the same knee that had already been operated on in December 2023.
This medical ordeal did not prevent her from being selected by Jorge Vilda for the 2023 World Cup, but it severely limited her playing time and, above all, her influence at Barcelona and with La Roja.
But after two seasons (2022-23 and 2023-24) of pain and suffering, Putellas seems to have rediscovered her former form. The midfielder has 16 goals and 11 assists in 24 LaLiga games, and four goals and three assists in 10 Champions League games.
These statistics and her key role in Barca since March convinced Montse Tome to make her a regular in the national team, especially at the start of the Euros, when Aitana Bonmati had to miss due to meningitis.
And the player who prefers to just call herself "Alexia" is doing her coach proud. "I think very quickly, I see the whole game beforehand and that's a key element for me in feeling good," she confirmed in the mixed zone after Spain's thrashing of Belgium.
A new-found influence on the Spanish game
"When I see that the team is moving, that we're able to combine, that we're enjoying playing together? That reflects on me too," she adds.
Against Belgium, La Roja's vice-captain, behind Irene Paredes, completed 88% of her passes, delivered six key passes, had 110 touches (the second-highest total of the match) and hit the post once. It is another display that puts her within touching distance of a potential third Ballon d'Or, which would be an all-time record for a female player.
However, there is no question of an individual award at a time when the whole of Spain is dreaming of a European title.
The midfield playmaker is trying to share the glory with her teammates, who are perhaps a little less in the limelight.
She added: "Because of my position, I also have the role of creating chances, sometimes it's me who finishes, sometimes it's other teammates who finish or create continuity. (...) I'm here because I've been awarded this prize, but it's a team that should be rewarded.
Her team has just qualified for the quarter-finals of the Euros after two emphatic victories, and is therefore guaranteed to do at least as well as previous generations.
"We all have a role to play: the pressure from Esther (González), the choices made by (Claudia) Pina and Mariona (Caldentey), and Patri, who is a scandal, the central defenders? We all know very well what we have to do to go as far as we can."
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