Youth career Sabadell, 2001–05 When she was seven, Putellas began playing for Sabadell, being enrolled through a family friend who played for the club; She was smaller and weaker than other players, and could not shoot from distance, Sabadell was the only nearby club that had a women's section but, though the women's team flourished during the period Putellas was with them and the staff of the girls' team pushed to develop, Joining Barcelona was her dream, but she had to leave when the women's system was restructured and there was no team for her age group; and trained and played with the first team during pre-season in 2009. She made her first team debut with Espanyol in 2010 when she was 16 years old. Putellas played in the
2011 Copa de la Reina for Espanyol, starting in the final that they lost 0–1 in
extra time to Barcelona. Putellas' performances with Espanyol identified her as one of Spain's best young players. Putellas attracted attention when she moved to Valencian club
Levante Levante did not compete in the
2012 Copa de la Reina due to failing to qualify in the previous season, but had numerous Spain football veterans and a professional environment, unusual at the time, which is said to have contributed to Putellas' individual growth. She had a personally successful
2011–12 campaign, scoring 15 goals in 34 matches (playing all matches in the season) and finishing as Levante's top scorer. At Levante, she was coached in how to play off the ball, developing technical and tactical skills like a midfielder, Putellas accepted the offer, signing for the club as a
forward on 10 July 2012 – and started and played most of their matches that season. Because of Barcelona's first-ever league title win in the previous season, they made their debut in the
2012–13 UEFA Women's Champions League; after signing for Barcelona, Putellas said it was a dream to be able to play in the Champions League. On 26 September 2012, she started in her
UEFA Women's Champions League debut against
Arsenal, which they lost 0–3 at home despite starting strong. In the away leg, Barcelona lost 0–4, and exited their tournament debut in the
Round of 32. On 5 May 2013, Putellas won her first
league title with Barcelona when they defeated
Athletic Bilbao 2–1 at the
San Mamés to a crowd of over 25,000. In 2021, Putellas said this was one of her favourite matches because it "made her feel like a footballer". In the 2013 final of the
Copa de la Reina she scored Barcelona's third goal against
Prainsa Zaragoza by dribbling past two Zaragoza defenders, past their keeper, and poking the ball into the net. The goal went viral and attracted more attention for Putellas from Spanish and international media. Putellas was chosen as MVP of the Copa de la Reina final for her performance.
2013–14 In March 2014, Barcelona became the first Spanish team to reach the quarterfinals of the Women's Champions League; Putellas, acknowledging that their tie against defending champions
Wolfsburg would be hard, said that Barcelona dreamed of being able to surprise them but would be "keeping [their] feet on the ground" ahead of the games; she later said that reaching a Champions League final was "a medium-to-long-term project" for the team. They lost 0–5 on aggregate, with Wolfsburg going on to win the title. On 13 April, Barcelona became league champions after the team went unbeaten for 27 games, with Putellas winning her second consecutive
league title with the club. She was recognised for her incredible technical skill, particularly going one-on-one, and for being a slower player who instead used changes of pace to "destroy her opponents." By 2014, Putellas was "widely recognised as the future of both FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team," She was one of Barcelona's three goals for a 3–1 aggregate victory in the semi-finals, before her goals were again crucial in the final against Athletic Bilbao: her shot from outside the box in extra time took the tie to
penalties, in which she scored the game-winning fifth penalty, earning her fifth major trophy with Barcelona. She was named MVP of the Copa de la Reina for the second season in a row.
2014–15 Putellas scored her first ever Champions League goal in the
Round of 32 of the
2014–15 UEFA Women's Champions League against Czech side
Slavia Prague; Barcelona advanced after defeating Slavia Prague 4–0 on aggregate. In the
Round of 16 they lost 1–2 on aggregate to
Bristol Academy. Putellas won her third league title with the club when Barcelona were crowned champions in April 2015, before scoring the opening goal in their
derbi femení victory. Later in May, she was included on the of Spain's best young players for the sixth consecutive season, being listed as a midfielder (rather than an
attacking winger) for the first time; returning in the second leg to provide an assist for
Jennifer Hermoso in a 4–0 win. She scored the first four-goal game of her career in 2015, having never scored a
hat-trick before, in a 10–0 win against
Fundación Albacete in the league. Putellas looked to the match as an opportunity to develop; she said that her perspective had changed, that when she first joined Barcelona she felt just playing in the Champions League was a prize to enjoy, but she wanted to be able to "reach a final in three or four years" and knew they had to be challenging teams like PSG. fielded as Barcelona's striker in the deciding match, she was described by
Sport as their
joker for "doing anything the team needed" throughout the game, including playing across the attack and dropping into midfield to retain possession. In the quarter-finals of the
2016 Copa de la Reina, Putellas scored a brace and provided an assist for
Míriam Diéguez in a 5–1 win against Real Sociedad. She finished her season as Barcelona's second-highest goalscorer in the league with 18 goals.
2016–17 In February 2017, Putellas was named as a candidate for the
FIFPro Women's World XI for the first time, being listed as a forward. In the
2016–2017 season, Barcelona reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Women's Champions League for the first time in the club's history. Putellas started both legs as they were knocked out 5–1 on aggregate by PSG. On 18 June 2017, Putellas won her third Copa de la Reina with Barcelona, scoring in
the final to help them to a 4–1 win over
Atlético Madrid.
2017–18 On 2 October 2017, Putellas wore the captain's band for the first time at Barcelona in a match against
Santa Teresa, after all four of the club's captains were either benched or not selected in that matchday squad. Putellas was Barcelona's sole scorer in both legs of the
2018 Copa de la Reina quarter-final, scoring both match-winners against Levante to bring Barcelona to the semi-finals. After advancing past Athletic Bilbao in the semi-finals, Barcelona made it to the final where they won 1–0 over Atlético Madrid late in extra time.
2018–19 In the
2018–19 season, Putellas was named as Barcelona's fourth captain, the first official captaincy role of her senior career. In the first match of that season's
Champions League, Putellas conceded an
own goal as Barcelona fell in a 3–1 shock defeat to
BIIK Kazygurt. They came back from that loss to win 3–0 at home, and ended up advancing to the semi-finals for the second time in club history. In October, Putellas scored four goals (of Barcelona's nine) in a league game against Rayo Vallecano, as well as drawing a penalty for her team, leading
AS to say she was already a reference in Spanish women's football. On 18 May 2019, Putellas started in Barcelona's first ever UWCL final against
Olympique Lyonnais, who went on to win the match 4–1. Following Barcelona's loss in the final, Putellas was named to the UEFA Women's Champions League
Squad of the Season for the first time in her career. Not soon after, she renewed her contract with the club for 3 more seasons to 2022. She ended the season as Barcelona's top scorer in the
league with 16 goals and overall with 18 goals.
2019–20 In 2019, Putellas was given second captaincy for the first time at Barcelona after being named as fourth captain in the previous year. For the first few months of the 2019–20 season, she captained the side during
Vicky Losada's hamstring injury, but began to start as captain in most matches by default as Losada transitioned to an off-the-bench role. On 7 September 2019, she became the first player to ever score at the
Estadi Johan Cruyff in a 9–1 win against Tacón, the team that would later become
Real Madrid. Some days later, Putellas scored Barcelona's first goal of the
2019–20 Champions League campaign, away against
Juventus. In the home leg, she scored the first ever Champions League goal at the Estadi Johan Cruyff. Later in the month, she made her 300th appearance for Barcelona against
Sporting Huelva, the fourth player in Barcelona's history to reach that many appearances after
Melanie Serrano,
Marta Unzué, and Losada. She was honored at Estadi Johan Cruyff for the milestone in March. Following the beginning of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the
2019–20 league season was suspended, with Barcelona being crowned the winner with 21 out of 32 matchdays played. It was Putellas' first league title since 2015, and her fourth with the club overall. She ended up contributing 10 goals and 8 assists in 20 league matches. At the end of the season, Putellas was named the best player of the 2019–20 league campaign. Upon the resumption of the 2019–20 UEFA Women's Champions League, Barcelona played Atlético Madrid in the single-legged
quarter-final, where they won 1–0. Barcelona advanced to the
semi-final of the competition, where they were knocked out 1–0 by
VfL Wolfsburg. In a post-match interview, when asked about the gap in quality between Barcelona and other elite European teams, Putellas claimed "there is no distance." On the continental stage, Putellas was named as a candidate for the
UEFA Women's Team of the Year for 2020. Although the 2019–20 UEFA Women's Champions League was completed, Barcelona were still due to complete the remaining matches of that season's
Copa de la Reina campaign. Owing to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the semi-finals and final of the 2019–20 Copa de la Reina were pushed back to be played during the 2020–21 season. On 13 February 2021, Putellas played the 2020 Copa de la Reina final against
Logroño, and drew a penalty which she scored to put Barcelona 1–0 up. Barcelona won the final 3–0, Putellas' fifth Copa de la Reina title with the club.
2020–21 As first captain
Vicky Losada continued to be utilized mainly as a substitute at Barcelona, Putellas started matches as captain throughout most of the 2020–21 season. In the first match of the league season, Putellas started the first ever
Women's Clásico against Real Madrid, where she scored the fourth and final goal of the match. On 6 January 2021, Putellas captained Barcelona against Espanyol, the first time women's teams ever played a competitive match at the Camp Nou. Just before halftime, Putellas scored a
header goal off a
corner kick from
Caroline Graham Hansen, becoming the first female player to score a competitive goal at the stadium. The following week, she played against Atlético Madrid in the semi-final of the
2021 Supercopa de España Femenina, where she scored a
free-kick in the 90th minute to tie the match and take it to extra time. Barcelona lost the match on penalties, one of their three losses that season in all competitions. In the second edition of the women's
El Clásico, Putellas scored Barcelona's first ever home goal against
Los Blancos. That goal was also her 100th goal scored in the league with Barcelona. in June 2021 In the 2020–21 Champions League, Barcelona advanced to their second ever final. A day prior to the
Champions League final, Putellas trained separately from the group with her left thigh heavily bandaged due to
strain on her hamstring, and was at risk of not starting the final with the status of "doubtful." Putellas said that when the pain continued in training, she focused on her mentality instead, making herself believe she was not injured so that she could play on top form. In the 20th minute of the match, Putellas sent a through ball into the box towards
Aitana Bonmatí, who scored Barcelona's third. The goal was later selected as the fifth-best goal of the competition. Barcelona ended the match winning 4–0, the largest margin of victory in any single-legged UWCL final, and Putellas was selected to that year's
UWCL Squad of the Season. Later in the year, she was listed as a nominee to the
UEFA Women's Champions League Midfielder of the Season award, which she won in August. Later in the month of May, she competed in the final stages of the
2020–21 Copa de la Reina. Putellas was sidelined for the two league matches between the Champions League Final and the semi-final of the Copa de la Reina due to her previous injury, but started the semi-final against
Madrid CFF where she scored two goals in a 4–0 win. Her two goals made her the first player in Barcelona's history to exceed 10 goals in the
Copa de la Reina. In the final, played on 30 May 2021, Putellas scored two goals against Levante – a header from a
Lieke Martens corner service and another coming from a shot from open play into the far right corner. The match ended with a 4–2 victory to Barcelona as they completed the continental
treble, a first for a Spanish women's club team. Putellas also won MVP of the Copa de la Reina final for the third time in her career, and scored the most goals in the tournament with five. The cup was her sixth Copa de la Reina with Barcelona and her seventh overall. Putellas ended her season as the highest-scoring midfielder in Europe with 26 goals in all competitions.
2021–22 Following the departure of captain
Vicky Losada, Putellas overtook first-captain duties at the beginning of the 2021–22 season. In August 2021, she was nominated as a
UEFA Women's Player of the Year finalist alongside Barcelona teammates Lieke Martens and Jennifer Hermoso. Putellas was given the award later in the month, becoming the first Spanish woman to win it. In September 2021, Putellas renewed her Barcelona contract for three more years until 2024. On 25 September, she scored one of
the fastest-ever hat-tricks in her club's, and Spanish women's football, history after she netted three goals in four minutes in her side's 8–0 defeat of
Valencia, one of which was scored from 40 yards. In the month of October, Putellas kicked off Barcelona's
2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League campaign by scoring their second goal in a 4–1 group stage win against Arsenal. That same month, she was listed as a nominee for the
2021 Ballon d'Or Féminin, the first Ballon d'Or nomination of her career. In November, Putellas scored three goals in two Champions League group stage matches against
Hoffenheim. She finished the 2021–22 UWCL group stage with 5 goals. On 29 November 2021, Putellas was awarded the 2021 Ballon d'Or Féminin. She became the first Spanish woman to win any World Player of the Year/Ballon d'Or award, and was the first Spaniard since
Luis Suárez in 1960 to win a Ballon d'Or. In January of the following year, Putellas was named as the winner of
FIFA's The Best Women's Player Award, the second FC Barcelona Femení player to win the award after Lieke Martens in 2017. Days later, Putellas scored a 91st-minute winner in a 1–0 match against Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the
2021–22 Supercopa Femenina. She later started and played 65 minutes of the Supercopa Femenina final, which ended 7–0 in Barcelona's favor against Atlético Madrid. Putellas began Barcelona's
2021–22 Copa de la Reina campaign by scoring a goal in a 3–1 win against Rayo Vallecano in the
Round of 16 of the tournament. In the
quarter-final of the tournament, played on 16 March 2022, Putellas scored two goals in a 3–0 win against Real Sociedad to advance Barcelona to the semi-finals. Later that month, Putellas competed in Barcelona's UWCL quarter-final matches against domestic rivals Real Madrid. In the first leg, she scored two goals to help Barcelona to a narrow 3–1 away win. In the following home leg, Putellas started and scored Barcelona's 4th goal in a 5–2 win over Real Madrid at the Camp Nou. The match broke the record for attendance at a women's football match with 91,553 fans in attendance. In April 2022, Putellas started and scored two goals in a 5–1 UWCL semi-final win over VfL Wolfsburg. The match, again hosted at the Camp Nou, broke the women's football world attendance record once more with 91,648 people in attendance. On 21 May 2022, Putellas started Barcelona's second-consecutive
UEFA Women's Champions League final against
Olympique Lyon. She played all 90 minutes and scored Barcelona's only goal in a 1–3 loss. At the conclusion of the tournament, she was named the 2021–22 UWCL Player of the Season, included in the 2021–22 UWCL Team of the Season, and was recognized as the 2021–22 UWCL Top Scorer, scoring 11 goals throughout the competition. She also had the most direct goal involvements of any player in the competition with a combined 13 goals and assists. Putellas returned to domestic competition on 25 May 2022 in Barcelona's
semi-final Copa de la Reina clash against Real Madrid. She assisted Lieke Martens' opening goal in a match that ended as a 4–0 win. In Barcelona's final match of the season, the
Copa de la Reina final against Sporting Huelva, Putellas played the entire match of a 6–1 win and scored Barcelona's sixth and final goal. Putellas finished as the joint-top scorer of the 2021–22 Copa de la Reina, tied with
Anita Marcos and Alicia Martínez with 4 goals. By the end of the season, Putellas' teammates agreed that "Barcelona is Alexia and Alexia is Barcelona". She finished her league season with 18 goals and a league-best 15 assists as Barcelona had a
perfect, wins-only season. Her 2021–22 season was also the first time in her career that she had scored over 30 goals in a single season, and the first season since 2018–19 that she was Barcelona's top scorer in all competitions. Her recovery period post-surgery was estimated to be between 10 and 12 months, meaning she would miss most (and possibly all) of the
2022–23 Primera División and
2022–23 UEFA Women's Champions League. Throughout the season, she instead picked up awards for the previous year: by the end of February 2023 she had retained all three of her UEFA Women's Player of the Year, Ballon d'Or Féminin and FIFA The Best Women's Player awards, creating a new record for consecutive wins. and at the end of March 2023 she was back in group training with the team. She returned to the matchday squad on 27 April 2023, for the second leg of the UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final against Chelsea, and made her first appearance on 30 April 2023, when she came on as a substitute in the 73rd minute in the league-winning victory against Sporting Huelva. She scored her first goal after returning from injury on 21 May, in Barcelona's final league game of the season; again a substitute, she scored a minute after coming on. It was the team's only goal in a 1–2 loss to Madrid CFF, their first league loss in nearly two years. In Barcelona's final match of the season, the
2023 UEFA Women's Champions League final against Wolfsburg in Eindhoven, Putellas entered the pitch in the 90th minute and played out the nine minutes of stoppage time in their 3–2 comeback victory.
2023–24 Putellas moved back to the forward line ahead of Barcelona's
2023–24 season, playing as a
striker or
false 9, something that had been discussed between her and the coaching staff to make use of her goalscoring abilities; planning for her post-injury return during the previous season, head coach
Jonatan Giráldez had thought to use Putellas in the more advanced role due to the successful midfield collaboration of Bonmatí,
Patricia Guijarro and
Keira Walsh. Putellas made her 400th official appearance for Barcelona during their first match of the season, the second player to achieve this milestone (following Serrano). With her goal in Barcelona's fourth match she drew level with Hermoso as the team's record goalscorer, for Barcelona in March 2024 She continued experiencing issues with her injury which, along with the team's new midfield, led
The Equalizer to question where she fit at Barcelona in January 2024, and to describe her season as "a significant juncture in a glittering career";
El País said in March that during Putellas' mid-season absence, other forwards had become efficient goalscorers, and she may no longer fit there, either. The absence lasted four months. which reportedly soured negotiations for a new contract between Putellas and Barcelona. She returned to play for Barcelona on 10 March 2024, scoring within 15 minutes of being substituted on, With the goal, Putellas' 185th for the club, she overtook
Josep Samitier to enter the top five of all-time goalscorers for Barcelona, men and women. Barcelona suffered a surprising home loss at the hands of Chelsea in the
Champions League semi-finals on 20 April;
Mundo Deportivo felt that once Putellas came on she brought more fluidity and was one of the team's more impressive players in breaking down Chelsea's defense. She missed a potential equaliser in the 100th minute, before Barcelona defeated Chelsea at
Stamford Bridge a week later to progress to the
Champions League final. Putellas had entered the pitch in the 92nd minute (during
stoppage time) of the semi-final second leg, and did so again in the final. Barcelona was leading 1–0 over European rivals
Olympique Lyonnais when Putellas came on; she recovered the ball from a Lyon attack within the Barcelona box, before scoring from well-built team play in the 95th minute to make it 2–0. She took her shirt off and ran to celebrate with the fans, bowing to them – Barcelona set a new record for the largest travelling contingent in women's football – and receiving a yellow card in one of the last actions of the match.
2024–25 At the start of
the 2024–25 season, the team again experimented with Putellas' position in order to play all four midfielders; new head coach
Pere Romeu had been a
pivot in his own career and particularly wanted to play both Guijarro and Walsh, moving Putellas into a false winger role within the midfield in early games. After the four-player formation proved unsuccessful in their first
2024–25 UEFA Women's Champions League match, Putellas returned to playing inside in the midfield most of the time. In their match against
Madrid CFF at the start of the month, Putellas scored her first goal from open play in the season to take her Barcelona career tally to 194 goals, equal with
László Kubala as the fourth all-time top goalscorer for FC Barcelona. Come the end of November 2024, Putellas had reached 200 goals for Barcelona and overtaken Kubala and
Luis Suárez on the all-time ranking list to stand as FC Barcelona's third-highest goalscorer.
2025–26 Putellas marked her 500th appearance for Barcelona on 2 April 2026, scoring once and providing two assists in a 6–0 win over Real Madrid in the
Champions League quarter-final, leaving only
Melanie Serrano ahead of her on the club's all-time appearance list. A month later, on 3 May, she netted a brace in a 4–2 victory over Bayern Munich in the
Champions League semi-final, securing her club's place in the
final and equaling
César Rodríguez as Barcelona's second all-time top scorer with 232 goals, behind only
Lionel Messi. ==International career==