UEFA Women's Player of the Year nominee: The case for Aitana Bonmatí
Thursday, August 17, 2023
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The Spain and Barcelona midfielder is one of three nominees for the 2022/23 UEFA Women's Player of the Year award.
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Aitana Bonmatí is one of three top nominees for the 2022/23 UEFA Women's Player of the Year award. UEFA.com analyses why she is in the running alongside Olga Carmona and Sam Kerr.
Why she was nominated
Bonmatí was superb for Barcelona in 2021/22, the most prolific campaign of her career to date. Operating in a more attacking role, she was able to maintain her remarkable form in the absence – for the majority of the season – of last year's UEFA award winner Alexia Putellas.
She registered a competition-high 13 goal contributions in the UEFA Women's Champions League (five goals and eight assists) and played a key role as Barcelona overturned a two-goal half-time deficit to beat Wolfsburg 3-2 in the Eindhoven final. It came as no surprise that Bonmatí was named the competition's Player of the Season, not to mention Player of the Match in five of Barcelona's 11 games.
She was similarly effective as Barça cruised to another Spanish league title. Returning to the national team in time for the FIFA Women's World Cup, Bonmatí was the team's fulcrum in Australia and New Zealand. Her double in the round of 16 against Switzerland inspired Spain's first-ever major senior knockout win, and she went on to be named Player of the Tournament as they claimed their maiden senior title.
2022/23 in numbers
Achievements
UEFA Women's Champions League winner and Player of the Season, Spanish league champion, FIFA Women's World Cup winner and Player of the Tournament
UEFA Women's Champions League
Appearances: 11
Goals: 5
Assists: 8
Player of the Match awards: 5
FIFA Women's World Cup
Appearances: 7
Goals: 3
Assists: 2
Player of the Match awards: 2
Domestic league
Appearances: 23
Goals: 9
Assists: 10
Key performance
Barcelona 1-1 Chelsea
The draw at the Camp Nou, which sealed a 2-1 aggregate UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final victory and Barcelona's third straight appearance in the decider, summed up Bonmatí's ability to dominate even top-level opposition.
Bonmatí buzzed around behind the front three, providing the link between the defence and midfield and ensuring Chelsea's hopes of overturning their first-leg deficit were in vain. An assist for Caroline Graham Hansen's clinching goal, where Bonmatí carried the ball from halfway to the box before setting up her team-mate, was typical of her 2022/23 output. She went on to cap a fabulous club campaign in the final comeback against Wolfsburg.
Who was last year's winner?
Alexia Putellas was the 2021/22 UEFA Women's Player of the Year after the most prolific season of her club career with 34 goals as Barcelona won a clean sweep of Spanish trophies and reached another UEFA Women's Champions League final. The goals also flowed for Spain, getting eight in 12 games as she became the first women to win 100 caps for her nation. She became the first player to claim the award two years running and joined Pernille Harder as a multiple winner.
