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After two dramatic penalty shootouts between Sweden and England and then France and Germany in the quarter-finals, it looked like another nail-biting conclusion to a knockout game at the 2025 European Championship was coming on Wednesday, with neither Spain nor Germany able to find a breakthrough that would book their spot in Sunday's final alongside England. Germany fluffed their chances on the counter and Spain just couldn't break down the determined defence in front of them - until Aitana Bonmati, fittingly as the winner of the last two Ballons d'Or, provided the moment of inspiration necessary to do so.
There were just seven minutes remaining of extra-time when Bonmati drifted onto the blind side of Rebecca Knaak, as the run of Athenea del Castillo grabbed her attention. Released by the Real Madrid winger, Bonmati turned and latched onto the ball, darting into the Germany box down the right. But as she looked up, a couple of yards from the byline, her options were limited. Cristina Martin-Prieto and Del Castillo were both making their way into the box, but they were going to be tough to pick out without a Germany defender getting in the way, while Salma Paralluelo was going to be even tougher to find at the back post.
That's when Bonmati spotted where Ann-Katrin Berger was placed in the Germany goal and remembered the preparations she and the Spain staff had done for this game. "We studied Berger and we realised sometimes she left the near post free," she noted after the match. "I didn’t think twice. I didn't want it to go to penalties."
With the swing of her right leg, Bonmati caught Berger totally by surprise as she arrowed the ball beyond her to break the deadlock after 113 minutes, send Spain to the Euro 2025 final and, after her chances of playing at all in Switzerland had been thrown into serious doubt just last month, make her mark on a tournament that La Roja are now just one game away from winning for the first time.