Two Catalan geniuses break Spain's curse
The Spanish national team won 2-0 in Switzerland, with Aitana Bonmatí and Claudia Pina playing their decisive roles, and is now in the Euro Cup semi-finals.
BarcelonaThe Spanish women's national team had been eliminated in the quarterfinals of three consecutive European Championships. This happened in the 2013, 2017, and 2022 editions. In fact, they had only reached the semifinals once in the tournament's history, in 1997, but the format was different back then, and this round involved reaching the semi-finals directly from the group stage. In other words, Spain had never won a Euro Cup knockout match until this Friday, when the team led by Aitana Bonmatí, from Sant Pere de Ribes, and Claudia Pina, from Montcada i Reixac, defeated the host nation, Switzerland, 2-0, in Bern. It was their two moments of brilliance that decided the match.
They achieved this in front of a crowd of 30,000 home fans, who enthusiastically celebrated Mariona Caldentey's missed penalty in the eighth minute at the Wankdorf Stadium. The former Barça player crossed the ball too far past Livia Peng. This gave even more energy to a very defensively intense Switzerland side, with Barça's Schertenleib one of the most active players, who gave the Spanish team no room to build up their attack throughout the first half. The best scoring opportunity in this stretch of the match, aside from the penalty, was a header from Irene Paredes that crashed off the post.
Once recovered from her tonsillitis, Cata Coll, who barely had any work, returned to the starting lineup for the Spanish national team, replacing Adriana Nanclares, who played the entire group stage. Under Cata, eight Barça players were part of Montse Tomé's starting lineup, which also included a former Barça player, Mariona Caldentey. Ona Batlle, Laia Aleixandri, Irene Paredes, Patri Guijarro, Aitana Bonmatí, Alexia Putellas, and Claudia Pina were the remaining seven. Salma Paralluelo and Vicky López also played in the second half.
The Spanish team hit the post again in the second half. This time, twice in the same play. Patri Guijarro and Esther González failed to open the scoring in a convoluted move inside the Swiss box, which is hard to explain why it didn't result in a goal. But the Spanish frustration lasted a little longer. In the 66th minute, Aitana Bonmatí created a backheel assist for Athenea del Castillo to make it 1-0. From then on, the game opened up, and a scintillating Claudia Pina sent the ball into the top corner from outside the area five minutes later to seal the tie and break the quarterfinal jinx. Alexia Putellas, late in the match, missed her second penalty of the night.
