Clàudia Pina's 'cannon shot', the party on the bus to Lausanne, and Montse Tomé's spy costume in the France-Germany match.
Spain chewed up the game against Switzerland , which has once again written these players' names into the history books of the national team by reaching their second European Championship semi-final. They showed character in their fight to break down the Swiss wall, which Athenea del Castillo cracked with a backheel assist from Aitana , who earned her first MVP, and sent Clàudia Pin to the ground with a cannon shot. The Ballon d'Or winners pondered the decision of who had been the best player of the match, but they could just as easily have chosen the young Barça winger.
If she fired a shot at 89 km/h (55 mph) into the top corner against Belgium, Peng suffered something similar: a patented shot she's practiced since she was a child. " I would put a bib on the corner of my balcony and shoot to put the ball there," she confessed after her first goal at the European Championship. Yesterday, she tried twice in the first half, but it was in the second, with the score already in her favor, when she found herself with an opening to enter the area and unleash her lashing shot. " When she makes that gesture, I think it's going to go for the goal . When she picks up the ball, she drives, she prepares... the moment she puts her left foot down, we know it's going in," Montse Tomé confessed. A few days ago, Pina confessed to Alexia that she's trying to vary it so that the goalkeepers don't end up flying into the top corner, as if that were easy given her shooting power.
At 23, Pina is enjoying her best season. She has been brilliant at Barça, and for the national team, her goal against Switzerland is her ninth in 19 matches. Since November 2024, she has been one of the four European players with the most goals for her national team in all competitions, along with Belgium's Tessa Wullaert , Sweden's Stina Blackstenius , and Germany's Lea Schüller .
It wasn't easy to finish off the Swedes. At halftime, with the score at 0-0, Spain conspired in the locker room to be patient and search for the openings that would eventually appear, like luck, which proved impossible with Mariona's missed penalty or Irene Paredes' header off the post. They even had the misfortune of receiving a yellow card from Laia Aleixandri , which, having already received one, will prevent her from playing in the semifinal. "I was in tears because everyone loves to play in a semifinal, but this is how it is. There's a team, and whoever goes out will do well. Now let's celebrate, because this is historic," the center back recalled.
Cata Coll acted as the master of ceremonies, returning to the goal. She had little work to do but made a fantastic save from Pilgrim. "But it was offside, it's not fair," she reminded the mixed zone. She appealed to the team's maturity to wait for their moment and warned of the party that, a few minutes later, would see them board the bus, with music and choirs en route to Lausanne.
Their sights are already set on the semifinals, with an opponent that will be either France or Germany . Athena wanted the Germans, as revenge for depriving them of a bronze medal at the Paris Games . Tomé preferred to be cautious, but tonight she'll be spying in Basel to watch the match live. "We've had an analyst watching every game, but I'll be there live for this one," explained the coach, who has coined a phrase that is on its way to becoming a litany: "These players are destined to make history." Greatness on the field, in competition, and off it, because it was from them that the gesture of making a corridor for the Swiss players as they left the field to honor their tournament was born.
elmundo
