Being the winner of the Ballon d’Or is supposed to give a certain hierarchy within your team, the national team and any area where you move. Even when reserving a table in a restaurant, if it is necessary to go back to everyday life. But, above all, having the winner of the trophy for the best player in the world in front of you forces her rivals. Of course, a footballer with the talent needed to dress up and go on stage at the Theater du Chatelet to receive the golden ball is unpredictable in the way she plays, no matter how much she has one, two or three players from the opposing team. on. What’s not so normal is that she doesn’t have anyone.
And that happened to Aitana Bonmatí, who must have been perplexed when, before the first quarter of an hour was up, and after a corner kick, she observed that she received the ball in the semicircle of the area without detecting any player nearby. from Athletic, so if for a soccer player of her category, it is relatively easy to decide what she should do in a hundredth of a second, arm her leg and shoot, even more so if she has time to think, almost to reflect. So she looked at where she should put her shot and did so with surgeon-like precision to open the scoring.
And it could be an oversight, an inattention, an unfortunate decision by Athletic’s defenses, but it turns out that three minutes later, Aitana found herself in the same situation again, and as is her obligation, she responded to the stimulus in the same way. The Ballon d’Or eliminated the Bilbao team in two actions in which they moved like a fish in water. He won the match there and almost certainly the tie. Sins of red and white youth.
Athletic then undertook the commendable effort of maintaining their form against a team that is much more than Bonmatí, and of course, they suffered to do so, closing in more in defense and trying not to hit a single ball and take the ball from behind, although Barcelona’s forward pressure prevented this many times. So it was always played on Athletic’s field, but the game, with the score almost decided, became more intense. Sandra Paños got bored in her area, waiting for a loan from her defenders that never came, and meanwhile, her colleague Nanclares had to fly a couple of times to neutralize the Barça forwards.
The second half was the same, although with changes here and there. Another headache appeared for Athletic with the departure of Salma Paralluelo, who confirmed the fears with her team’s third goal, which even at the tiring pace with which she played the second set, because she didn’t need more, continued. dominating, although Bilbao’s pride gave him the opportunity to stretch a couple of times and step into the Barcelona area, without incident, of course, for the final result. Barcelona, unless improper alignment as happened last season, which is not expected, will be one of the finalists.
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