Aitana Bonmatí shines on the Liceu stage: "The Pelotas de Oro hasn't changed me."

BarcelonaThe workers of the Lyceum who prepared Tonight's performance of 'The Cunning Vixen' They were peeking out with curiosity. They all wanted to see Aitana Bonmatí, for a day the main attraction on a stage where other stars usually shine. Bonmatí took photos with the Liceu workers the day she visited for a photo shoot to celebrate. his third consecutive Ballon d'Or. She arrived with two friends from Sant Pere de Ribes, her town, where she was having coffee in the town square on Tuesday, as always. "The thing is, I'm still the same Aitana as I always was. Where I feel comfortable is in the town square, with my family. If I have to go to galas and wear a suit, I do it, but my place is there," she explained at a press conference.

Adidas, the brand she signed with this season, gave her a pair of golden sneakers, to match the three balls displayed in the middle of the stage. "The first Ballon d'Or didn't change me, nor the second, nor the third. In the media, you reach more people, but I'm the same as always. It's good for me to have the same environment as always and keep my feet on the ground, knowing where I come from. I really value Ribes and my people," she said after the photo shoot. Ribes is so important, in fact, that he explained that he's working on a project to create a space in the town where he could store the awards. "I don't want them at home, the Golden Balls. I don't want to wake up and see them; they're too impressive," he said, laughing. "And my mother doesn't want them at home. If it works, we'll move forward with a project that wouldn't exactly be a museum... it would be like a space for the town, to leave a legacy," he explained.

Bonmatí prefers football to awards, despite valuing them. "On a day-to-day basis, I think about the games and titles with Barça; I never think about the Ballon d'Or during the season. As a team, we all focus on giving 100%. Coming within striking distance of two important titles last season, especially the Champions League, motivates me. And I like the new tournament format," explained one woman. "Each one tells a different story. The first one is always special, as is my first Champions League title with Barça. The second showed that winning everything wasn't enough, that I was still hungry. And this one comes perhaps less unexpectedly. I hadn't prepared a speech or anything. In fact, the format of the gala was different, and at one point they're going to show me what I've found. And then they tell us that Mariona and I are finalists, that Russo is no longer a candidate. The press conference also had serious moments, like when they asked him about a possible boycott of Israeli clubs and teams. "I've listened to podcasts and read; it's a conflict that requires research. It's the politicians who have to do the work and get things changed, because it seems we haven't learned from the wars of the past," he said.

At the doors of the Liceu, on La Rambla, word was already spreading that Aitana Bonmatí was inside. And many young people were gathering to try and catch a glimpse of her. And she kept chatting, right in front of the three awards. Three in a row, like Platini and Messi. "It's a historic and very difficult event, basically because I know how I live day to day, and it's football, and it's very hard because it requires perseverance, very high self-demand. The fact of never lowering the bar, of keeping your motivation intact... This season, at the beginning, I had a bad time, I wasn't motivated like before, I was struggling with Porto. It's been going on for the last five or six years without stopping. And there comes a time when you wonder what motivation you have... And luckily I found it," said a player who never stops working. In fact, she remains determined to improve her long-range shooting.