CiutadellaSpain can win the European Championship. So flat and short. Despite the sudden loss of Alexia Putellas due to the rupture of the cruciate ligament in her left knee, the state team remains one of the favorites to place the continental crown. In the first major European Championship since women’s football has taken a step forward and has begun to consolidate and professionalize, the team led by Jorge Vilda appears in all the rounds. It’s no surprise: a large part of the squad wears the Barça shirt and has been on the verge of lifting the second consecutive treble this season.
The hard core of the selection that opens this Friday against Finland (La 1, 18 h) is perfectly known. Friends and teammates for years, the players who begin the European adventure for the coveted trophy are “a family.” Up to nine of them live in the Catalan dressing room throughout the season, and the rest, former teammates who have emigrated to other European leagues or rivals in state competition, share a struggle for years that goes beyond the playing fields. . The vindication of their labor rights as footballers has always united them in a masculinized and male-led world. Women’s football is struggling every day to make a place for itself, to consolidate its successes, and since Barça established itself in Europe as a benchmark thanks to an unprecedented hat-trick, the national competition has had to put up with it. Many of the improvements achieved have been led by the players who make up the team that wants to take the title to England.
Now comes a new scenario in which Spain has never won anything. The state team is virgin in terms of continental or world titles and arrives as one of the great rivals to beat thanks to the talent and gallons acquired by the footballers with their respective clubs. They infuse respect like never before in a European Championship ready to break one record after another: attendance, thanks to the thousands of tickets already withdrawn, with several posters of sold out hung at the box office, and a never-before-seen media deployment.
Despite being a favorite, Jorge Vilda’s set does not arrive at its best. The loss of Alexia Putellas has been a very hard blow that must be recomposed in record time (three days before the debut). The footballers, conspired to do something big in the European Championship, have lost one of their leaders in the locker room and on the grass. Mollet del Vallès will be one of the big absences on the pitch, as will Jenni Hermoso, whom the coach has decided not to call despite being almost recovered from a knee injury.
Spain’s path to the final will not be easy, starting with the group stage. Group B, to which the state group belongs, is one of the most complicated. Finland (Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.), Germany (Tuesday 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.) and Denmark (Saturday 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.) are the first rivals against the Red he will have to prove his football and prevail if he wants to advance to the quarterfinals. Two more rounds (quarterfinals and semifinals) will be the prelude to the grand final, which will be played at the iconic Wembley Stadium on the last day of July at 6pm.
In England, the country where football was invented, Spain wants to start its legend. Talent and quality are there, but you have to see how these footballers develop in an unprecedented setting. Many of them have shown in other situations that they are not afraid to make history.
