That Barcelona has dominated women's football in recent years is no exaggeration.
The team has five consecutive titles in the Spanish league, two consecutive in the Champions League, and is packed with, among others, Spanish national team stars.
But on February 1, the team suffered a real cold shower, a 1-2 loss to Levante. It was "Barça's" first loss in the league in over 600 days and the first home loss since the team started playing at Estadi Johan Cruyff in 2019.
We've had a good season and have mostly won. But there have been a few matches that have been a bit tricky, says Fridolina Rolfö ahead of Tuesday's national team match against Wales.
It's clear that it always hurts to lose. But when you're not used to it, it's different. And it's clearly noticeable when we lose.
Loss to arch-rivals
But it didn't end with just Levante.
In late March, another home loss came – to make matters worse, against the club's arch-rivals Real Madrid.
It was incredibly tough, says Fridolina Rolfö with emphasis.
We didn't reach the level we had hoped for, and there were a few things that didn't go our way in the match, including referee decisions and so on. So it was tough.
It was the first time in 19 attempts that Real Madrid – whose women's team was launched with the takeover of CD Tacon in 2020 – won "el Clasico" on the women's side.
I think it means a lot for women's football and the Spanish league that we win and show that we're taking steps, says Swedish Real star Filippa Angeldahl about the team's 3-1 win.
So that it's not just dominance from their side, but that it becomes more even and that we're also a team to believe in.
"Work extremely hard"
Fridolina Rolfö agrees, at least in theory.
Yes, I think Real has had a good season and looked strong. It's fun with tough matches, I won't say anything about that, she says.
It's fun, but at the same time, we need to work extremely hard to maintain the level we've been at in recent years.
And, after all, it's only two losses so far for the big team, which has a four-point lead in the league.
Now I hope we've been able to develop and learned from things we haven't succeeded with before, says Rolfö.
I hope we can win the league anyway and win the remaining matches.
Born: November 24, 1993, in Kungsbacka.
Home club: IFK Fjärås.
Current club: FC Barcelona.
Previous clubs: Tölö IF, Jitex, Linköping, Bayern München, Wolfsburg.
Main merits: Olympic silver 2016 and 2021. World Championship bronze 2019 and 2023. U19 European Championship gold 2012. Champions League winner with Barcelona 2023 and 2024. Spanish league champion with Barcelona 2022, 2023, and 2024. Cup winner with Barcelona 2022 and 2024. German league and cup winner with Wolfsburg 2020. Swedish champion with Linköping 2016.
