1 week ago
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Sam Marsden and Itzel Bandin
Jul 21, 2025, 06:29 PM ET
LAUSANNE -- Aitana Bonmatí has told ESPN of her pridefulness astatine recovering from viral meningitis to beryllium named MVP during Spain's 2-0 European Championship quarterfinal triumph implicit hosts Switzerland.
Bonmatí, 27, starred with a backmost bottommost to make the archetypal extremity arsenic Spain acceptable up a semifinal against Germany successful Zurich connected Wednesday.
The two-time Ballon d'Or winner's show was each the much singular fixed she was hospitalised conscionable days earlier the tourney with viral meningitis, starring to superior doubts implicit her information successful the finals.
"Three weeks agone I was successful a infirmary furniture and a fewer days aboriginal I came connected [in the first] crippled implicit here, [then] different lucifer and past back-to-back 90 minutes," she said successful an interrogation with ESPN.
"It's thing to beryllium arrogant of. I deliberation it speaks a batch astir my level of committedness to the team. I'm ambitious and I don't privation to miss anything, arsenic agelong arsenic I'm healthy.
"It was a hard process due to the fact that I recovered myself successful infirmary unexpectedly. I suffered, obviously, but I had to resistance myself retired of that antagonistic situation.
"It was nary usage dwelling connected it. It was a hard clip due to the fact that a Euros is lone six games astatine most, but I tried to woody with it arsenic good arsenic possible."
Midfielder Bonmatí, who is aiming to pb Spain to a archetypal ever Euros last this week, says it's that mindset which helped her scope the apical of the game.
"If determination is thing that characterises me, it is this mode of dealing with things; a resilient mentality," she added
"I don't similar to accidental strong, due to the fact that we each spell done pugnacious moments. I'm not hiding suffering, it's simply however you look adversity, due to the fact that determination is ever adversity successful life. It is however you look it that marks you out.
"I deliberation that mentality of ne'er giving up, of not seeing adversity arsenic a problem, but arsenic a imaginable accidental to travel retired stronger, to beryllium my worthy to myself ... it's bully to person those qualities.
"I'm not saying it's ever the best, but to effort to look connected the affirmative side, it's bully to person these situations to truly realise your worth, isn't it?"
It's an outlook which sees Bonmatí perpetually present successful the large games. In scooping the MVP prize against Switzerland, she became the archetypal pistillate to triumph said grant successful the knockout stages of the Champions League, the Euros and the World Cup.
"That makes maine precise proud," she said. "I person worked hard to beryllium here, astatine this level, and to enactment here, which is the analyzable portion -- to ever enactment astatine the apical level and ne'er driblet off.
"There was a statistic precocious astir [me being] the [female] subordinate with the astir games successful the satellite successful the past 5 oregon six years. That says a batch astir my work, my mentality, my resilience, however I unrecorded shot and however I instrumentality attraction of myself to ever beryllium acceptable and available.
"Luckily, I person been capable to play a batch of games without stopping, but the hardest portion is to support going. I effort not to driblet my level and to proceed to person that ambition, which is what drives maine successful the extremity to support competing and get up each time with the aforesaid tendency arsenic the archetypal day.
"Right now, I americium 100% focused connected giving the champion of myself to service [Spain]. I judge that if we each springiness the champion of ourselves and enactment ourselves astatine the work of the team, that's erstwhile this squad performs astatine an unstoppable level."
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Bonmatí has had a staggering magnitude of occurrence successful her vocation to date, winning 25 trophies with Barça, including 3 Champions Leagues, a World Cup and a UEFA Nations League with Spain, and the biggest idiosyncratic prizes successful the world.
However, she is yet to triumph the Euros, a trophy Spain person ne'er won successful their history, either. If La Roja negociate to alteration that this month, the medal could find a location successful the depository she reveals she wants to unfastened successful her hometown, Sant Pere de Ribes, conscionable extracurricular of Barcelona.
"We are moving connected [a museum]," she divulges. "We privation to bash it successful Ribes. I would similar to enactment everything I person won successful there, but besides things that fans person fixed me, similar I don't cognize however to accidental it, but [create an] Aitana Bonmatí abstraction wherever radical tin besides spot who I americium arsenic a person, my career.
"Obviously the trophies. But overmuch much than that: what I've been collecting from fans, the shirts from the players I play with and against. It's a mode to archer my story, if you will, reflected successful a abstraction radical tin visit."
