Jostled in pool with their rout against Japan, Spain will need all the talent of their midfielder Aitana Bonmati to hope to beat Switzerland in the round of 16 of the Women’s World Cup on Saturday (7:00 a.m.) in Auckland. Like her team, the Catalan had started her tournament with a fine goal in the big victory against Costa Rica (3-0) with a clear sequence and strike, before sinking like all her teammates during the slap inflicted by Japan (4-0), relegating Spain to second place in the group.
With the poor form of double Ballon d’Or Alexia Putellas, another Barça star back on the pitch after a serious knee injury, La Roja’s hopes rest on the native of Vilanova i la Geltru, a coastal town 45 km from Barcelona. . Often compared to Andres Iniesta, she shares with him a frail appearance, the number on her jersey in selection (the 6), but above all the vision of the game, the precise passes and the creative talent of one of the essential cogs of the only world title of the Spaniards in South Africa in 2010. The 25-year-old player had a full season with FC Barcelona, allowing her to win the title of Spanish champion again but above all a second Champions League, of which she was elected best player, finishing second in goalscoring (5) and with the most assists (8).
Considered one of the favorites for the Ballon d’Or at the end of the year, Bonmati would see his chances of reward increase in the event of a good run by Spain at the World Cup. This is perhaps one of the reasons which pushed her to return to the selection, when she was one of the “fifteen rebels” who announced last year that they no longer wanted to play there as long as Jorge Vilda remained at its head. “The positions have come closer and I think we are all going in the same direction and we clearly know where we want to take the Spanish women’s foobtall,” Bonmati said on his return, while Vilda is still coach and that twelve of the rebels are not present at the World Cup.
But despite the failure of her claims, Bonmati is considered one of the leaders of the locker room, thanks to a character forged in her youth, when she was the only girl to play among the boys. “If today I am also a warrior, resilient and ambitious, it is thanks to this period, which helped me to forge my character”, admitted the player at the start of the year during an interview with the Catalan radio RAC1. This warrior spirit, she also inherited it from her family: her parents, teachers of Catalan, were at the origin of a legislative change allowing to put the name of the mother first before that of the father. As you can imagine, Bonmati is that of his mother.
Very involved in humanitarian causes, she wore after her Champions League title a t-shirt with a message for refugees and is an assiduous spectator of Barça Genuine matches, which brings together players with mental disabilities. . And in a time when the taboo on the mental health of athletes is gradually being lifted, she admitted without problem that she had consulted a psychologist for years: “Everyone suffers, it’s not a big deal, but we have to talk about it openly and the solution is to go see a psychologist”. Saturday against the Swiss, first outings of group A, it is a warrior well in her sneakers and in her game that the ambitious Roja will need to avoid further disillusionment after the elimination in the quarter-finals of the last Euro .
