Jana Fernandez UWCL

The footballer from Sant Esteve Sesrovires -also a town in Rosalía- arrives at the 9th Barça Academy World Cup as host together with Eric Garcia, although eight years ago she was only one of the three FCB Escola players who played in the competition. And this season, the tournament -which will be played from April 11 to 14 on the fields of the Ciudad Deportiva- will bring together the 1,150 boys and girls that give meaning to the club’s 26 academies, spread over 15 different countries.

And Jana Fernández amply exemplifies what it means to be a Barça player: ambition, humility and competitiveness. “When I entered I saw that a path was opening but it was unthinkable to dream that it could arrive to where I am today. We have to follow. A lot of progress has been made since I joined in 2014″, explains the Barça footballer to EL PERIÓDICO.

Jana has charted the path that all children longed for. She started as a child at the Barça Academy, she raised the first triplet with the team. And despite her young age, she shows enough maturity to value what she learned during her formative stage: “The person and the footballer that I am now is thanks to FCB Escola and being here at Barça. The values ​​transmitted by the club have built the person I am today“, sentences the defense of the Barça club.

After two years at the school, the call from Barça was a step forward for the young footballer. “There I was aware that she could be a professional player. Changing from FCB Escola to here made me think that she could play with the first team”, confesses Jana. Although then, the reality was very different and practically unprecedented. “It was a fairly closed road, no girls from La Pedrera came up. But when Claudia Pina, Candela Andújar and Gemma Font arrived I really saw that I could reach the first team and dedicate myself”, adds the player.

Although Jana Fernández has been with the first team for a couple of years, this season she has had a leading role, participating in 20 of the 26 possible encounters and becoming the perfect alternative to the defense formed by Mapi León and Irene Paredes: “I didn’t expect to be so important to the team. I am very grateful to Jonathan Giráldez for giving me the opportunity and trusting in us”.

However, the cruciate ligament rupture On February 12, he frustrated his great moment of form. Although now, Jana Fernández shows that she is mentally prepared to assume responsibilities the following season: “I was unlucky because I was in a stage of great confidence. But this will not stop. I will come back much stronger And I hope they continue to trust me as they have throughout this year.”

In fact, the plant already stands out as indisputable for the near future. “I’m putting pressure on to be a starter in the future. I’m lucky to be young and I still have many years of football left. But if I have to dream of a perfect scenario, it would be being the holder of the Football Club Barcelona”.

In addition, the footballer perfectly represents the competitiveness that the team shows in each game: “I want to continue winning titles. We have just won a treble and we are not satisfied with less”, admitted Jana Fernández. “We will go for it all. We want to repeat the treble, and also the Super Cup, which last year was left hanging”, she concluded.

At the end of the month, they will face the fourth consecutive Champions League semi-final. And they will do it against the rival of two seasons ago, Wolfsburg. From that tie remains the “there is no distance“by Alexia Putellas, which has already gone down in history. And if the Barça members have made something clear, it is that it is not just another game for the players.

“It is very symbolic to win against Wolfsburg because of the semifinals that we lost against them. It was very hard, we had many chances and we were not able to transform them. They scored a goal with an isolated chance and qualified for the final”, explained Jana Fernández . The center does not forget the competitiveness that characterizes Giráldez’s team: “We came from being European champions but that doesn’t help us this season. We want to win this semi-final and play a new final.”

The Barça team faces a semi-final as close as last season’s against PSG: “We expect a physical match. We want to have the same opportunities as in the previous tie and this time we can transform them”, details the footballer.

The Camp Nou will once again live a ‘final’ to remember: “It will be a very attractive match for the spectator, a very disputed match. The fans will give us the push we need to win the first leg. We seek to go to Germany with a good result. There will also be an audience there and we don’t want to suffer,” acknowledges Jana.

Demà is a special day. It is a day when we can open many doors to all those children who are about to play one day in a stadium like the Camp Nou. Jo vaig be i sóc one of those kids.
It will be time to cheer for valent!

Som-hi Barça, som-hi culers!?❤️ pic.twitter.com/SR5tIKfnJD

– Jana Fernàndez (@janafernandez_) March 29, 2022

And after the experience of March 30, in which they reached the world attendance record of 91,533 fans against Real Madrid, the team trusts in a similar response from the fans: “We expect a full Camp Nou. Although we are still not really aware of what it means. We talk about it on a daily basis but without knowing the effect it is having on people and what it will have in the context of women”, concludes Jana Fernández.