\n<\/p>\n
Lopez quickly caught attention at Madrid, though her route to the top was not without major obstacles.<\/p>\n
At just 11 years old she lost her mother to a brain tumour. When her mother’s condition worsened and her father practically lived at the hospital, Mellado and her Madrid team-mates helped Lopez get to training and kept her occupied.<\/p>\n
From there, Lopez developed at remarkable speed. In 2019, she was named most valuable player at a La Liga-organised tournament for under-12s girls’ teams after scoring seven goals, including a hat-trick in the final.<\/p>\n
She caught the eye by scoring 60 goals in 17 matches in the 2020-21 youth league, and began her journey through the country’s junior ranks.<\/p>\n
In September 2021, Lopez became the youngest player to feature in Spain’s top flight when she came off the bench against Athletic Bilbao, aged 15 years and 42 days.<\/p>\n
“Of course she had the ability – I always told her so,” Mellado said.<\/p>\n
“I also pushed her hard, because if she really wanted it, she had to always give her best and she always did. She was one of the hardest-working and she never once complained.<\/p>\n
“She knows what she wants – that’s very important, because it makes her strive every day to achieve it.”<\/p>\n
In 2022, perennial Spanish champions Barcelona signed Lopez on her 16th birthday, and two months later she became the youngest debutant in the club’s professional history.<\/p>\n
She did so wearing the number 30, the same shirt worn by Lionel Messi when he broke into the Barca first team.<\/p>\n
That season Lopez became Barcelona’s youngest-ever Champions League debutant, male or female, and the youngest player ever to score in Liga F. <\/p>\n
If fans were not already excited by her potential, they were in October that year when she was named MVP as Spain won the U17 World Cup in India. <\/p>\n
Lopez made her senior Spain debut in February 2024, replacing national icon Jenni Hermoso during the Nations League semi-final. At 17 years, six months, and 27 days, she become her country’s youngest debutant.<\/p>\n
A breakout 2024-25 campaign – during which she stepped in for the ill Aitana Bonmati to help Spain reach the final of Euro 2025 – led to her winning the Kopa Trophy for the best young player in the world.<\/p>\n
After initially being used as a winger, Lopez is now largely used in a central role for club and country despite competition<\/a> from the likes of Bonmati, Patri Guijarro and her idol Alexia Putellas.<\/p>\n A combination of intelligence, excellent technique and athleticism allows her to both score and create – she has contributed nine goals and nine assists in 26 Liga F games this season, 16 of them as a starter.<\/p>\n “She’s not afraid of anything and she tries everything. And I think that’s why, even in teams with so much talent, she’s starting to earn a place in the starting line-up,” Vidal said.<\/p>\n “As we say in Spain, she’s one of those footballers you buy a ticket to watch, because she enjoys the game and makes you enjoy it too. <\/p>\n “She’s just as extroverted on the pitch as she is off it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n