Tag: Aitana Bonmati

Aitana, Alexia both strike as Barcelona claims third Women’s Champions League crown

Barça is once again in a class of its own after seeing off Lyon’s challenge in the UWCL final

Barcelona made sure that the Jonatan Giráldez era will end in style.

Barça on Saturday won the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the third time, outlasting Lyon 2-0 before a crowd of 50,827, a record for a Women’s Champions League final.

Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Putellas scored second-half goals for Barça, which defended its UWCL title. Along with this season’s league and cup double in Spain, the Catalan side has won three of the last four Champions Leagues, with the streak only interrupted by a shock loss to Lyon in the 2021-22 final.

Giráldez will leave Barcelona at the end of the Spanish season to take charge of the Washington Spirit, who made the impressive move of signing the Spanish coach away from what is considered the biggest club in women’s soccer. His final match in charge will be June 16’s Liga F clash with Valencia.

Thoughts about that were put to the side at San Mámes, where Barcelona was more often than not able to play Lyon on its own terms.

However, the French giants — featuring U.S. women’s national team star Lindsey Horan — held firm through the first half, raising memories of how things played out two years ago.

Additionally, Lyon had entered the match having won every single one of the past four meetings between these sides, even as Barcelona has otherwise seemed to take over as the club perceived to be the world’s best.

However, any Barça worries were settled by Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmatí, whose angled shot in the 63rd minute took a fortuitous deflection off of Damaris Egurrola to zip past goalkeeper Christiane Endler.

Lyon predictably responded by throwing the kitchen sink at Barcelona, including sending star striker Ada Hegerberg — a fitness doubt coming into the final — into the fray.

Barça had some narrow escapes, particularly on some deep crosses into heavy traffic that pushed Cata Coll to her limits.

A late equalizer felt like a possibility, but Barcelona had the perfect answer. Once again the attack came to the left of Endler’s goal, with Clàudia Pina cutting back from the endline to set Alexia Putellas up for a precise first-time shot.

The stoppage-time strike settled the match, setting off delirious celebrations for a heavily pro-Barça crowd.

“I’m really happy,” Giráldez told DAZN after the match. “One of the best days of my life, for sure. We did an amazing job… we suffered in the last minutes, but I’m very proud of [the team].”

Giráldez’s departure may well prove to be a major factor in European women’s soccer, but Barcelona will still carry on with an extremely formidable lineup. On Tuesday, the club announced that it had signed Alexia to a contract extension through 2026, settling rumors that one of the team’s biggest stars could possibly be on her way out this summer.

In other words, the star-studded squad figures to have a serious chance of making it three in a row at this time next year.

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Wiegman dedicates UEFA Coach of the Year award to Spain women’s national team

Wiegman: Spain ‘deserves to be celebrated, and deserves to be listened to’

Sarina Wiegman won the 2023 UEFA Coach of the Year award, but chose to use the big stage to acknowledge a team that defeated her.

In a speech at a UEFA gala that doubled as both an awards ceremony and the Champions League draw, Wiegman dedicated her award to the players of Spain’s World Cup champions.

England fell 1-0 to Spain in the World Cup final, but for Wiegman, the broader issues that came immediately after that game were top of mind.

After thanking her coaching colleagues, players, and support staff with England, Wiegman turned the attention towards Spain’s players. The squad has been on strike since Spanish federation president Luis Rubiales, who among other things kissed attacker Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the World Cup’s medal ceremony, refused to step down. Hermoso has maintained that the kiss was not consensual.

“We all know the issues around the Spanish team, and it really hurts me as a coach as a mother of two daughters as a wife and as a human being,” said Wiegman at Thursday’s event. “The game has grown so much, but there’s also still a long way to go [in] women’s football and in society.

“I would like to dedicate this award to the Spanish team, the team that played in the World Cup, such great football that everyone enjoyed. This team deserves to be celebrated, and deserves to be listened to,” added Wiegman before starting a round of applause.

Spain midfielder and World Cup Golden Ball winner Aitana Bonmatí, who received the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year award at the same event, called out “abuses of power” throughout the women’s game and in society in general.

“These are not very good times for Spanish football,” said Bonmatí. “We come from winning the World Cup, but not much is being said about it, because there are things happening and I would not like to let these things go by unnoticed.

“I would like to comment something on what has happened. I think as a society, we must not allow abuses of power in the workplace nor displays of disrespect. To all the women who have been subject to what has happened to Jenni, we stand with you. And I hope we continue working so that this society gets better.”

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Spain star Bonmati wins World Cup Golden Ball

The Spain playmaker was sensational all tournament long

After its World Cup-winning performance, Spain took home some individual hardware as well.

Spain beat England 1-0 in Sunday’s final, after which star midfielder Aitana Bonmatí was awarded the Golden Ball as the World Cup’s top player.

Bonmatí scored three goals in the World Cup, including a brace in the last 16 against Switzerland, but the Barcelona midfielder did much more than just find the net at the tournament.

The 25-year-old was the creative engine for Spain, controlling the tempo of matches as the chief architect of La Roja’s possession-based style. Bonmatí has become the odds-on favorite to succeed Alexia Putellas, her teammate for club and country, as this year’s Ballon d’Or winner.

2023 Women’s World Cup awards

Bonmatí wasn’t the only Spain player to win an individual prize, with Salma Paralluelo winning the Best Young Player Award. The 19-year-old scored off the bench in the quarterfinal and semifinal in a breakout performance.

England’s Mary Earps won the Golden Glove as the tournament’s best goalkeeper. Among several tournament highlights, Earps saved a penalty from Spain’s Jeni Hermoso in the final to keep the Lionesses in the match.

Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa won the Golden Boot with five goals in the World Cup, despite her side only reaching the quarterfinal. Miyazawa scored a brace against Zambia and Spain in the group stage, before adding another goal in a last-16 win over Norway.

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