{"id":289141,"date":"2025-07-24T23:31:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T23:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/289141\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T23:31:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T23:31:19","slug":"from-hospital-bed-to-euro-hero-spains-bonmati-back-to-her-best-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/289141\/","title":{"rendered":"From hospital bed to Euro hero \u2013 Spain\u2019s Bonmati back to her best | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ballon d\u2019Or holder Aitana Bonmati\u2019s Euro 2025 participation was in doubt due to illness, but now the final beckons.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could write a book about this,\u201d said Aitana Bonmati on Wednesday as she reflected on the last few weeks in her life after scoring the goal that took Spain into the final of the Women\u2019s Euro 2025.<\/p>\n

At the end of June, the world\u2019s leading women\u2019s footballer was lying in hospital with viral meningitis, and it looked like she might not be able to play for Spain at the tournament in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

Now, she is preparing to lead her team into Sunday\u2019s final against England in Basel, in a rematch of the 2023 World Cup decider, which Spain won, after converting the only goal of the last-four clash with Germany late in extra time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the ball went in, I started running around like a crazy person. I didn\u2019t know where to go,\u201d a smiling Bonmati said as she spoke to the media at the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich after collecting the trophy for player of the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is so special to score in games like these, and if I can help the team to keep making history, that is very special indeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Spain'sSpain\u2019s Aitana Bonmati celebrates scoring their first goal with Alexia Putellas and Athenea del Castillo [Piroschka Van De Wouw\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

Barcelona midfielder Bonmati, who has won the Ballon d\u2019Or in each of the last two years, was taken to hospital at the end of June after reporting feeling unwell.<\/p>\n

Tests confirmed that she was suffering from a bout of viral meningitis, and Bonmati could only watch from bed as her teammates beat Japan in a friendly.<\/p>\n

Viral meningitis is less serious than the rarer bacterial variant, which can lead to death within 24 hours, but it still seemed like a long shot for her to recover in time for the Euros.<\/p>\n

Yet she did recover, and appeared as a late substitute in Spain\u2019s opening game at the tournament, a 5-0 win over Portugal in Bern on July 3.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old was back in the starting lineup for their final group match, a 3-1 victory over Italy, and retained her place for the quarterfinal against the host nation before scoring the winner against Germany.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe in destiny, just in hard work and in my own mentality. I can only thank everyone who has supported me because it has not been easy,\u201d Bonmati admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe didn\u2019t have an easy start to the Euros, but she has managed to overcome her health problems and has worked hard to get fit again,\u201d remarked coach Montse Tome.<\/p>\n

Spain are now into their first-ever senior women\u2019s European Championship final, two years after winning the World Cup for the first time.<\/p>\n

\"Barcelona'sBarcelona\u2019s Aitana Bonmati has won the last two women\u2019s Ballon d\u2019Or awards [Stephanie Lecocq\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

Bonmati was one of the stars of that superb team that defeated England in Sydney, and is now dreaming of another title.<\/p>\n

La Roja are the favourites, even if England are the defending continental champions, in the latest instalment of a growing rivalry between the nations.<\/p>\n

As well as the 2023 Women\u2019s World Cup final, Spain beat England in the final of the men\u2019s Euros last year in Berlin.<\/p>\n

In late May, an Arsenal side featuring several members of Sarina Wiegman\u2019s current England squad defeated Barcelona in the final of the Women\u2019s Champions League.<\/p>\n

Seven of the players who started for Barcelona that day in Lisbon also started against Germany on Wednesday, among them goalkeeper Cata Coll, who made several vital saves before Bonmati got the winner.<\/p>\n

\u201cCata played really well, with some big saves when we were suffering,\u201d Bonmati said of Coll, who missed all of Spain\u2019s three group games due to tonsillitis.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither of us had the start we wanted at this Euros due to illness, but we are lucky to be here today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows what can happen in life. In the end, we have had good news.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ballon d\u2019Or holder Aitana Bonmati\u2019s Euro 2025 participation was in doubt due to illness, but now the final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,94,12,104,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-289141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-spain","13":"tag-sport"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114910821420841808","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}