Spain's queen Aitana ready to rule over England
Aitana Bonmati is hoping to add another piece of silverware to her bulging trophy cabinet when Spain plays its first UEFA Women's Euro final, taking on holder England in Basel on Monday (AEST).
The 27-year-old playmaker has won six league titles and three UEFA Champions League crowns with Barcelona and taken home the Ballon d-Or Feminin in 2023 and 2024, as well as a FIFA Women's World Cup and a UEFA Women's Nations League title with Spain.
"It would close the circle a little bit – this, together with the Olympic Games," she said at the team's base in Lausanne ahead of the showpiece.
"We want to add the only tournaments that we are missing. For me personally, it would be very nice in the future to have the memory of having won the great tournaments at the highest level in football."
Spain's best finish to date in the Euros came in 1997 when it came third, and its only appearance in the Olympic tournament led to an agonising fourth-place finish at Paris 2024, where it lost the bronze-medal match to Germany.
Monday's (AEST) final – a repeat of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup final – promises to be a tight affair, with six of the past seven games between the two sides decided by a single goal and the seventh a scoreless draw.
"The game on Sunday [Monday AEST] is unique, very one-on-one, where things are decided by the smallest margins. Anything can happen, no matter how experienced or knowledgeable you are," Bonmati explained.
"They have it too, they have lived through many finals. It is going to be a very equal match in that respect."
Bonmati and her team-mates are very conscious of where the game will be won and lost.
"When we talk about our game, we talk about a possession game, and we, in the vast majority of games, have had possession. So if we don't have it, something bad will happen, so I hope we have it more than England," she said.
