Aitana Bonmatí

Aitana Bonmatí Conca (Spanish pronunciation: [ajˈtana βommaˈti];[lower-alpha 1] born 18 January 1998) is a Spanish football midfielder currently playing for Barcelona in the Spanish First Division.[1][2] She had been a member of the club's youth system.[3] She is also a member of the Spanish national team.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Bonmatí and the second or maternal family name is Conca.
Aitana Bonmatí
Bonmatí with Barcelona in 2019
Personal information
Full name Aitana Bonmatí Conca
Date of birth (1998-01-18) 18 January 1998
Place of birth Sant Pere de Ribes, Catalonia, Spain
Height 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)[1]
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Barcelona
Number 14
Youth career
2005–2009 Club Deportiu Ribes
2010–2012 Camp Futbol Cubelles
2012–2014 Barcelona
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2016 Barcelona B
2016– Barcelona 53 (14)
National team
2013–2015 Spain U-17 17 (4)
2015–2017 Spain U-19 16 (6)
2016–2018 Spain U-20 9 (2)
2017– Spain 20 (4)
2016– Catalonia 2 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 5 May 2019

Early life

Bonmatí was born in Sant Pere de Ribes, Catalonia. In her childhood, she played basketball, but at age seven she took up football and played with boys in mixed teams.[4] She often recalls getting picked on by boys for her short stature.[5] The first clubs she played football with were CD Ribes and CF Cubelles, both male/mixed gender teams, which she believes helped improve her strength and intensity.[6] At the age of 14, she joined Barcelona to play in their youth teams, where she would take two-hour long public transport rides with her father to get to practice.[3][7]

Club career

FC Barcelona youth teams (2012-2016)

Bonmatí started her Barcelona career by joining Juvenil-Cadet, the second-highest developmental team for girls at FC Barcelona. In 2013 with Juvenil-Cadet, Bonmatí won their respective league and the Copa Catalunya competitions.[8] The next season, she again won the league with Juvenil-Cadet, going undefeated.[9] In the final of the Copa Catalunya, the match went to penalties where she converted her penalty but ended up losing 4–2 to Sant Gabriel after the shootout.[10]

Bonmatí moved up to become a Barcelona B player after two years at the club. During her time with the B team, she sparingly made appearances for the first team in preseason. Throughout the 2015–2016 season, Bonmatí played an important part in winning the championship of Second Division, Group III for the first time in the club's history, by scoring 14 goals for Barcelona.[11][12] At the end of the season she was promoted to the Barcelona's first team by the manager Xavi Llorens.[13]

FC Barcelona (2016-)

Bonmatí made her first team competitive debut during the quarterfinals of the 2016 Copa de la Reina against Real Sociedad, proving an assist to Bárbara Latorre.[14] She continued to feature in the tournament as a substitute, coming on late in the match during a 3-0 semifinal win against Levante.[15] Bonmatí featured in the final against Atletico Madrid, subbing on for Gemma Gili in a match that finished a 2–3 loss for Barcelona.[16]

The following month, at the start of the new season, she was a part of Barcelona's squad at the Copa Catalunya, where she played and scored in both matches of the tournament. The final against Espanyol ended a 6–0 win for Barca, where Bonmatí earned her first senior title with the club.[17][18] She made her UEFA Women's Champions League debut in the Round of 32 against FK Minsk.[19] Bonmatí was used sparingly her first season with the senior team, making thirteen appearances with 3 starts and scoring 2 goals- a brace against Oiartzun KE.[20] She scored Barcelona's fourth goal in the final of the 2017 Copa de la Reina, a 4–1 win over Atlético Madrid.[21]

In the 2017–2018 season, Bonmatí continued to sparingly make appearances, mostly in the league. Her only goal of the season was also her first ever Champion's League goal in a Round of 16 match against Lithuanian team Gintra Universitetas.[22][23] She subbed on for Toni Duggan in the 2018 Copa de la Reina final that went into overtime and ended with a Barcelona win, her second major title with the club.[24]

Bonmatí slide tackling Amel Majri of Lyon during the 2019 UWCL Final

The 2018–2019 season was a breakout season for Bonmatí as she consistently made first team appearances in Spain. She also made regular Champion's League appearances, scoring once against Glasgow City in the Round of 16.[25] FCB Femení made it to their first ever Champion's League final where she started the match, and despite a 4–1 loss to Lyon, she had a moment of greatness that went viral when she outran Shanice van de Sanden down the right wing to prevent a counter-attack.[5] Bonmatí ended her season with twelve league goals and played all but 5 matches in all competitions.

Despite an approach from Bayern, Bonmatí re-signed a contract with Barcelona in the summer of 2019 that will keep her at the club until 2022.[26][27] For her performances with Barcelona and Spain in the previous season, she won Catalan women's player of the year with 68% of the vote.[28]

In 2020, she made her 100th appearance for Barcelona, coming on as a substitute against CD Tacón.[29] Following a brief period of injury, she was substituted on in both matches of the 2020 Supercopa Femenina, including the final that Barcelona won 10–1 over Real Sociedad.[30] Months later, following a decision from the RFEF to suspend the 2019-20 league season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Barcelona were given the title, making it Aitana's first league title with the club as a senior player.

International career

Youth

Bonmatí has played at every junior level of the Spanish national team, including their U17, U19 and U20 national teams.

At 15 years old, Bonmatí was called up as part of Spain's squad for the 2013-2014 UEFA Women's U17 Euro. She scored her first U17 national team goals with a brace against Germany in a 4-0 group stage win, helping Spain finish first in Group B.[31] From there, Spain advanced past the semifinals after a 2–1 win against England. Bonmatí reached the final where she started the match, but ultimately finished runner-up in the tournament as Spain were eliminated by Germany on penalties. She registered 398 total minutes in the tournament.[3][32]

Months later, she participated in the 2014 U-17 Women's World Cup where she mostly had a substitute role.[33] In the semifinal, Bonmatí was a halftime substitute against Italy, where Spain advanced after defeating them 2–0.[34] Bonmatí was substituted on in the 53rd minute of the final, where Spain fell 2–0 to Japan.[35]

Additionally, she was a member of the Spain U-17 squad that won the 2015 Women's U17 Championship. In the group stage, she registered her first and only goal of the tournament in a 4–0 win against Germany.[36] Spain finished first in Group A where they then faced France in the semifinal. She started and played through extra time where the match ended up going to penalties. She converted her penalty to end the shootout 4-3 and advance to the final against Switzerland.[37] With a 5–2 win in the final, Bonmatí earned her first international title and was subsequently named to the Team of the Tournament for her standout performances throughout the competition.[38][39]

Bonmatí was part of the Spanish U-19 team that won the 2017 European Championship.[40][41] As part of a suspension, she was forced to sit out of the first three group stage matches after receiving a straight red card in a qualifying match versus Belgium.[42] She made her first tournament appearance as captain in the semi-finals against Netherlands. Spain advanced to the final against France with a 3–2 win. Bonmatí started and captained the team to a victory against France, snapping Spain's run of three consecutive finals defeats at the U19 EUROs.[43] With their finish, she earned her second international title as Spain were one of the three UEFA teams to qualify for the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

Bonmatí was again named team captain at the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.[44] In Group C, Spain registered two wins against Japan and Paraguay. They finished first in the group by holding the United States to a draw, knocking them out of the tournament in the group stage for the first time. Bonmatí was named the "Dare To Shine" player of the match.[45] In the quarterfinals, she scored twice against Nigeria, but the second goal was not given despite TV replays showing it crossing the goal-line.[46][47] Spain won that match 2-1 and reached the semi-final of the tournament against France. Bonmatí started the match but was sent off with a second yellow card after a challenge on France's Selma Bacha- the only red card in the entire tournament.[48] Up until her ejection, she had played every minute of the tournament.[49] Spain ended up winning the match, but Bonmatí was suspended for the final where Spain fell 1–3 to Japan.[50]

She also has experience with the U18 and U16 Catalan youth national teams.[3][13]

Senior

In November 2017, Jorge Vilda gave Bonmatí first senior national team callup for two 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying matches.[51] She made her debut for Spain's senior national team against Austria, subbing on for Amanda Sampedro in the 53rd minute.[52]

Bonmatí's first senior international tournament experience came in February 2018 when she was called up to participate in the 2018 Cyprus Cup.[53] She made limited appearances throughout the tournament, but with Spain's win in the first-place match against Italy, she earned her first title with Spain's senior team.[54]

Her first national team goal came a year and a half after her debut in April 2019 during a friendly match against England.

In May 2019, Bonmatí was named to the Spain's 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup squad. She featured in two group stage matches- a win against South Africa and a loss against Germany.[55][56] Spain finished second in Group A and reached the knockout rounds of a Women's World Cup for the first time in their history. They were defeated 1–2 in the Round of 16 by eventual tournament winners United States. Bonmatí finished the tournament with 58 minutes.

Later in the year, Bonmatí played in each of Spain's 2019 qualifying matches for the UEFA Women's Euro 2021 and as of October 2019 is currently Spain's top scorer in qualifying with three goals.[57][58]

International goals
Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first.
Aitana Bonmatí– goals for  Spain
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.9 April 2019County Ground, Swindon, England England2–12–1Friendly
2.4 October 2019Estadio Riazor, A Coruña, Spain Azerbaijan3–04-0UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying
3.4–0
4.8 October 2019Ďolíček, Prague, Czech Republic Czech Republic0–31-5

Style of play

FCF has described Bonmatí as "pure elegance" and has noted her versatility as a player, able to adapt to different positions, play centrally, as a midfielder or as a winger.[28]

After winning her first Catalan Player of the Year award, Jordi Ventura, the coach who signed her to Barcelona's Cadet team, emphasized that she is "an intense player, very competitive and perfectly dominates with both legs." In the same article, former FCB Femeni coach Xavi Llorens describes Bonmatí as having "innate elegance in driving the ball" and being "very competitive... versatile, can play in three, four or five positions and does not lower the level." [28]

Ahead of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, FIFA described her in her player profile as "technically gifted" with "superb vision with plenty of character" and "combative when required with an eye for goal."[59]

Bonmatí sees her short stature as an advantage due to her low center of gravity that makes it hard for opponents to take her off the ball.[57]

Personal life

Bonmatí's idols are Xavi and Andrés Iniesta.[60] She has also stated that she models her game after club and national team teammate Vicky Losada.

Bonmatí is currently studying Physical Activity and Sports Sciences at Ramon Llull University in preparation for the end of her footballing career.[61][62]

Honours

Club
Barcelona B
FC Barcelona

International
Spain (youth)
Spain
  • Cyprus Cup: Winner, 2018

Individual

Notes
  1. In isolation, Bonmatí is pronounced [bommaˈti].

References
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