This 18-year-old striker is one of the nine pioneers who joined La Masia this year, the very prestigious training center of the Catalan club which has forged legends like Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta or Xavi Hernandez, new coach of the first team masculine.
Since its creation in 1979 in an old building near Camp Nou, then its move ten years ago near the club's training center in the suburbs of Barcelona, La Masia had never accepted girls among its residents.
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Driven by the recent triumphs of women's Barça - crowned in La Liga, the national cup and the Champions League last season -, it opened its doors to them for the first time.
“
It's a gift!
», Rejoices Clàudia, obliged for years to spend an hour by car between her city of Girona (north-east) and Barcelona to be able to train with girls of her level after having taken her first steps among boys.
Passed by Espanyol, the other big professional club of the Catalan metropolis, it evolves today within Barça B and follows at the same time studies of chemistry at the university.
Shaken by a serious economic crisis and still under the blow of the departure of Messi, Barça had its last great successes thanks to the women's team, defending champion in the Ladies' Champions League, where it receives Hoffenheim on Wednesday (6:45 p.m.) for the 3rd day.
Beyond their hat-trick last season, women's Barça won all of the individual awards awarded in August by UEFA.
Until the award for best player of the season, awarded to captain Alexia Putellas, who is also one of the four Barça players nominated for the women's Ballon d'Or.
“
It's a very big responsibility, we are pioneers.
But it's especially nice to know that you will forever be one of the first to enter La Masia,
”says Laura Coronado, 18-year-old babysitter and dietetic student, sitting in the garden of the training center.
His photo, like those of the 105 residents (in football, basketball, hand, futsal and roller hockey), now adorns the vestibule of this modern residence, which replaced the original building in 2011 and where the nugget of men's Barça Gavi still lives.
The prodigy Ansu Fati, who just turned 19, was also trained there.
“
The way forward is very simple.
You just have to look at the men's team to know where we need to go,
”said Markel Zubizarreta, the manager of women's football at Barça.
On the way to the relaxation room, where billiards and table football are enthroned, a large mural pays tribute to Levante-Barça on November 25, 2012, a match that the Catalans had won 4-0 playing an hour with eleven players and a coach (Tito Vilanova) trained in La Masia.
Barca were then at the top of Europe and far from imagining that the women's section would continue to feed the trophy cabinet while the men's team would decline.
In the wake of the Catalan club, the presence of women in Spanish football continues to grow.
The number of female licensees has almost doubled since 2011, from 36,200 (4.3% of total licensees in Spain) to 77,400 in 2020 (7.2% of total), according to the Sports Ministry.
"
There are still many things missing, such as the professionalization of La Liga
", the principle of which has been accepted but which is still not a reality, notes Laura Coronado, however.
“
We know that salaries will not be equivalent to those of men, but we would like to be able to live more comfortably from football.
We are fighting for that,
”she says.
Like many girls of her generation, Jana Fernandez, now in Barça's first team at 19, has never shared a locker room with girls before the age of twelve.
Passed by the youth teams of the club, she did not have the chance to be a boarder at La Masia.
“
I often remind the girls who are there now.
May they take advantage of it, because I would have loved to be there,
”says this defender, who is studying advertising alongside her career and is aware that there is still a long way to go for girls in Spanish football.
"
We fight every day to get more things for those of today, and especially for the girls of tomorrow,
" she slips, with a smile.