MADRID, 27 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The soccer player of the Spanish soccer team Aitana Bonmatí is clear about the good time that they live less than a year before the European Championship in England, an appointment where she does not know if they will be “favorites”, but in which they will surely be asked more “” than in the World Cup in France, while he sees the “physical” improvement and “offensive and defensive aggressiveness” as the keys to the competitive leap they have made.
“I do not know if we are favorites or not for the EURO, but we are going to be asked for more, more than anything because of what we have been doing in the last year and a half or two years. We have to try to measure up and achieve as far as possible because the ambition is maximum “, admitted Bonmatí in an interview with Europa Press during the concentration of the Spanish team in Las Rozas (Madrid).
And this greater demand does not translate into more pressure for the FC Barcelona player. “I have never felt it at any time. It is required of us, but we dedicate ourselves to what we like and as Johan Cruyff would say, we have to go out and enjoy ourselves, we do not have to do anything else. Pressure those who have harder jobs, we do what that we like, we just have to do what we know how, win and make people happy, “he said.
However, he knows that the national team, which accumulates 14 games in a row won and without conceding, has made “great progress in the last year and a half” in which they have faced “great teams”, whom they have “won and competed very well. ” “Now we are looking forward to the draw this Thursday and then to see how we prepare for this great event,” said the Catalan.
“I think that on a physical level we have improved a lot and also on an offensive level, by which I mean reaching the opponent’s goal and taking shots because we had control of the game and perhaps we lacked that aggressive point in attack that is essential to win the games because in the end what counts are the goals. Now we have danger, we score goals and we are quite solid in defense, so I think the improvement has been in the physical and in the offensive and defensive aggressiveness, “he said about the points in the who had improved the national team since the 2019 World Cup.
“AN INTERIOR IS MORE COMPLETE IF YOU HAVE A GOAL”
And in the notable offensive improvement, Bonmatí is very involved with goals, a facet that was not “bad” when he was in the lower categories of Barça and that he attributes to his desire to improve. “I myself see that an interior is more complete if it has a goal and that is why I put it in my head to get to the area and be attentive to the centers,” he commented.
The 23-year-old footballer is also part of the theoretical starting midfield both in her club and in the national team together with Patri Guijarro and Alexia Putellas, with whom she shares seeing “football in the same way” and where “each one contributes what yours “and that’s what makes them” great. “
“If we were different we would not understand each other so well. Patri, due to her position, is more in charge at the defensive and offensive level of being like the team’s beacon, the axis through which the balls pass and the one who is attentive to transitions, while that Alexia and I are more offensive, “he added.
The Catalan midfielder is one of the young women who was promoted to the Absolute and who has raised the competitive level. For her, at the base s she is working very well since they have been winning European titles for “many years”, in addition to the historic U-17 World Cup. “At grassroots level, Spain has always been very strong, the rival to beat,” he stressed.
“In the Absolute, that point of professionalism was lacking, I am talking about the clubs, which were not so professional before and now we have a European champion. There has been progress at the level of betting so that the results can be seen in the national team and now we we measured rivals that before it was impossible to beat them and now we do it. In addition, the players who came up from the base know each other from playing many years together and it also shows, “he said.
“I DON’T HAVE TO WAIT FOR ANYONE TO RECOGNIZE ME WHAT I DO”
That of Vilanova i la Geltrú, who lives “the same demand” when she is with the national team as with Barça, avoids talking about the favoritism or not of Alexia Putellas for the ‘Ballon d’Or’, surely out of respect for her other nominated teammates and that They have had “a great year”, and although she likes “to be on those lists”, she downplays the importance of not having been one of the 20 candidates.
“When you look at the list and see certain names, you don’t really know the criteria to choose from, but I dedicate myself to my business, to meet my personal goals, which are what make me more satisfied. I don’t have to wait for anyone to recognize what I do, I am the one who has to be satisfied and proud of myself, “she said.
Bonmatí was the ‘MVP’ in the final of the Champions League against Chelsea, a match that could have removed that bitterness of not being able to play the final of the U-20 World Cup when she was expelled in the semifinals, although the player He clarifies that “they are different things and that he does not see that absence against Japan as” something bad “but as something that will” make him learn “for the future.” In a person’s sports life many good and bad moments go by, and they all help you add and learn, “he said.
Finally, the international recognizes that when he started playing football at the age of seven it was “impossible” to have a female reference and that is why he opted for Xavi Hernández as “the main one” along with Andrés Iniesta. “They both played in positions similar to mine and I paid attention to them a lot,” he recalled.
“Now we see how we fill stadiums and how after each training and each game people wait for us, that did not happen before and I am personally proud because it is something that has changed a lot, society has changed and it is positive. male and I have to try to be a good reference within the field, and above all outside for the values that you teach to boys and girls. I have an important role of responsibility towards all the people who follow us, “he said.