Vicky Losada: "I want to win the Champions League with Barcelona"

She has been home again for a week now and is "very happy" although she acknowledges that she is "still adapting… I need to get caught up on things and get back into the routine." A season and a half ago, Vicky Losada (Terrassa, 1991), then the FC Barcelona captain, departed for Arsenal Ladies FC to embark on her second adventure overseas, a year after having crossed the pond to turn out for the Western New York Flash.

"I went to Arsenal with the aim of improving on my weaknesses and upping my game in physical terms. I think I've matured," the midfielder told LaLiga. It is on the strength of a highly successful spell in London – where she shared a dressing room with Natalia Pablos and Marta Corredera, and won the WSL Cup in her first campaign there and the FA Women's Cup at Wembley in the second – that she has now returned to the Azulgranas and the Liga Iberdrola.

"Barça is my home and I needed to be happy," Losada explained, adding that, "As soon as I received the offer I knew that I'd come back, but I wanted to be 100% professional and wait for the season to be over at Arsenal [before confirming anything]." So it was that the 25-year-old was forced to keep mum when, while she was away on international duty with Spain, the Gunners announced that their Spanish trio were set to leave the club. "Some Barça players asked me 'When are you coming back?' but I couldn't say anything," she revealed. Now she has been reunited with those familiar faces in Barcelona: "There are some players who weren't at the club when I left but I know them from the national team, while I've been playing with others since I was 11 years old."

[ÚLTIMA HORA] @losada_vicky: "Molt contenta de tornar a casa" https://t.co/WQy35sg96D / "Contenta de volver a casa" https://t.co/CKrLfPsanN pic.twitter.com/jC3A3tSU29

— FCB Femení (@FCBfemeni) November 8, 2016

Tweet translation: [BREAKING] @losada_vicky: "I'm really happy to be coming home"

The Liga Iberdrola has changed a great deal during her two years away, and for the better. She welcomes the increasing professionalisation of the female game in Spain: "Barça now have a whole separate set-up for the women's team: a goalkeeping coach, a fitness coach… They're professionals and we train from 08:00 to 14:00. I've also been surprised by the press coverage, thanks to LaLiga and the arrival of Iberdrola, which is something we sorely needed. The promotion and publicity have been stepped up. I think games being shown on TV, the fact that two or three matches are broadcast by GOL or beIN SPORTS every week, is extremely important. At the end of the day that serves to boost clubs and enables the standard to improve. Here's hoping Spanish women's football continues to grow."

Losada did not think twice when asked why she had moved back to the Catalan capital: "Just to think about everything that's happening at the club of my heart… They're the club where I learned my trade and I thought to myself, 'I'd love to be part of what's going on there and hopefully to win the Champions League with them one day.'" European glory is her top target in the long term – "I want to win the Champions League with Barcelona," she reiterated – but she also has other silverware in her sights: "First things first, we've got to try to win the league and the Copa de la Reina." Coincidentally or not, the only full season which the midfield creator spent away from Barça was also the club's first trophyless campaign in several years, having previously claimed four Liga Iberdrola titles on the bounce.

Un día muy feliz y especial para mi, con muchas ganas de volver a vestir esta camiseta!! Siempre @FCBfemeni https://t.co/iyLxE70gNQ

— Vicky Losada (@losada_vicky) November 8, 2016

Tweet translation: A very happy, special day for me. I can't wait to wear the Barcelona shirt again!! @FCBfemeni forever

Now Losada is longing for her transfer to officially go through this week so that she can make her eagerly awaited latest Azulgranas 'debut' at home to Athletic Club, in front of her family: "They missed me a lot, especially my mum, who is thrilled that she'll get to watch me play every Sunday again." The Spain international herself will be doing the watching from the stands on Wednesday evening when her team face Twente in the Netherlands in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, in which she is ineligible to play: "We've simply got to win." If they do get through, however, Xavi Llorens will be able to call on her in the quarter-finals. This would mean a return to European club competition for the star after a two-year absence.

Losada has come back a more complete player, having learned from the experience of playing alongside legends in London. She also speaks much-improved English and, besides the cup winner's medals she picked up with Arsenal, she has brought back some major personal accolades: she is the reigning Catalan Women's Player of the Year, was named in the PFA FA WSL 1 Team of the Year in 2015 and was recently voted the Arsenal Ladies Supporters' Player of the Season for 2016.

With Barcelona Women keen to keep kicking on, there is every reason to believe that their academy graduate and former captain can continue to flourish and contribute towards rekindling the glory days at the club that she loves.