Goal heroine proud to be part of generation that is 'achieving so much'

Spain star Aitana Bonmati said her team planned to take some time to celebrate reaching its first ever European Championship final following Wednesday's extra-time win over Germany, before quickly turning its thoughts to another title decider against England.

"We have made history again, beating Germany for the first time and reaching a Euro final, which we had never done before," a smiling Bonmati remarked after her extra-time strike secured a 1-0 victory in Zurich in the semifinal clash.

"We feel proud to be part of this generation of players that is achieving so much, but this is not over yet," added the reigning Ballon d'Or winner before the Spain squad headed back to its training base in Lausanne, on the shores of Lake Geneva.

"They are already tearing things up in the dressing room, and there won't be much silence on the bus journey back to Lausanne.

"We will enjoy this, but, tomorrow, we need to start thinking about England."

The game on Sunday in Basel against the reigning European champion will be a rematch of the 2023 World Cup final, when Olga Carmona scored the only goal to hand Spain the title.

England will have had an extra 24 hours to prepare for the match after beating Italy in its semifinal on Tuesday, although it needed extra time to win that game, having been taken all the way to penalties against Sweden in the quarterfinals.

"I know they played 120 minutes twice, but we knew today could be a long match, and it was," Bonmati said.

She knows that England's substitutes — notably Chloe Kelly and Michelle Agyemang — have had a major impact in each of their knockout ties en route to the final, but insists Spain can trust in its own squad.

"We believe in our players, the 11 starters, but we also have a lot of players on the bench who can do better in the second half or in extra time. We have a big squad and we trust all of them," she said.

"England have a lot of players that we have faced a lot of times — we know them and they know us, so we have to prepare the best way we can to win."

AFP