Paralluelo’s rise continued in her second season with Barcelona as she racked up 34 goals and seven assists as they clinched a quadruple – adding the Spanish Women’s Super Cup to the successful defence of their three other titles.
She was then part of Spain’s squad for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, scoring a late consolation as the world champions lost 4-2 to Brazil in the last four.
But soon after her exhausted body cried out “enough is enough”.
Tikas explains: “The Olympics were horrible for her, she wasn’t feeling well – there were a lot of things to deal with.
“She has always had pain in her knee so they [Spain and Barcelona] decided that ‘OK, we have to stop and do some work or she could get seriously injured again’.”
For four months Paralluelo worked on a tailored training programme away from her team-mates, with the aim to rebuild and strengthen her muscles, returning to play her first 10 minutes of the season against Hammarby in December.
Paralluelo later described the break as “a process that I needed for my own good”, external – but it left the door ajar for Barca and Spain team-mate Claudia Pina to emerge as another stellar option on the left wing.
Pina played almost twice the amount of minutes as Paralluelo in Liga F last season, recording 17 goal contributions to Paralluelo’s 10. She also scored 10 goals in Barcelona’s run to the Champions League final to clinch the European Golden Boot.
Yet Tikas believes Paralluelo still has a prominent role to play for club and country.
“I think it depends on the opponent, especially at Barcelona. Claudia is more like a fourth midfielder – she is a winger but also likes to play inside. And then Salma is quicker, a more physical player,” explains Tikas.
“For teams that come to play, Salma will play because she can run behind, and against teams that sit back and just defend Pina is more likely to play because she is technically better.”
So how might both players be utilised by Spain coach Montse Tome at the European Championships this summer?
“For Spain there are two positions that are undecided – the left wing, Salma or Pina, and the forward,” suggests Tikas.
“Salma can play [forward] too but I think that will be Esther [Gonzalez] because she has played in many important games. Depending on the opponent and the gameplan, left wing will be Salma or Pina.”
Paralluelo started Spain’s Nations League group decider against England in June, though Pina stole the show with a second-half double to send Spain through.
But Paralluelo’s 2023 World Cup heroics showed she can step up on the big stage when called upon.
“[Salma] should be up there with the best players [in the tournament] but right now there are many Spanish players who could be,” says Is, who also coached the likes of goalkeeper Catalina Coll and forwards Pina and Eva Navarro in the Spanish youth ranks.
“You asked if she could be ‘one of the stars’. Well, Spain has 23 stars.”
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