How Barcelona’s brilliant Aitana Bonmati held off USWNT Olympic heroes to win a second-straight Ballon d’Or Feminin

Barcelona had never done the quadruple on the women’s side – winning the league, the Spanish Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and, of course, the Champions League. They have now. Bonmati was, again, at the heart of everything, posting 45 goal involvements this time around.

Of course, things didn’t quite go to plan for Spain at the Olympics, where defensive frailties, coach Montse Tome’s misuse of Alexia Putellas and the absence of some key names, still in protest against the federation, came under the microscope.

But let’s not disregard their UEFA Women’s Nations League triumph in February and the role Bonmati played as Spain firmly asserted themselves as Europe’s best side. The manner in which they out-classed France in the final of that competition, which Bonmati opened the scoring in, was remarkable, with Les Bleues unable to lay a glove on their opponents.

That’s one of several big games that can be pointed to as evidence of Bonmati deserving to pick up a second successive Ballon d’Or, with many of them coming in the Champions League. Once again, no player had more goal involvements in the competition than the 26-year-old, whose importance ramped up as games became more and more significant.

After scoring three goals and assisting three more in six group-stage matches, Bonmati assisted the winning goal in the first leg of the quarter-final meeting with Brann and then scored and assisted in a 3-1 second-leg victory.

In the semi-finals, after Barcelona had suffered a shock 1-0 loss at home to Chelsea and thus went to Stamford Bridge needing to win, she levelled the scores on aggregate with a fantastic first-half strike and then won the penalty that sent the Catalans to the final. Unsurprisingly, she got the Player of the Match award.

Then, the midfielder arguably saved her very best until last. In the final, as Barca took on eight-time winners Lyon, a side they had never beaten and had twice lost to at this stage, Bonmati ran the show. Her goal set the reigning champions on their way to a second-successive European triumph for the first time, before Putellas put the icing on the cake in stoppage-time.

Even at that moment, with the Olympics still to come, it felt like Bonmati had secured this second Ballon d’Or – and that’s not just because of Champions League games. There were also big domestic performances, like the two-goal display in the Spanish Super Cup final and a wonderful match against Real Madrid in March, where a goal and an assist from their midfield maestro helped Barca out-class their bitter rivals in a 3-0 win.

These shows of individual brilliance were peppered throughout 2023-24, with Bonmati never going more than two games without a goal or an assist for Barca across the entire season. That consistency is only achievable for truly great footballers, of which she is certainly one.

It was translated onto the international stage again, too. Spain’s erratic defending was on show throughout their Nations League campaign, but the excellence of attack-minded players like Mariona Caldentey, Jennifer Hermoso, Salma Paralluelo, Putellas and Bonmati helped ensure it wasn’t as costly. Again, when the biggest games came, the latter stepped it up a notch, on the scoresheet in the semi-finals and the final as Spain came out on top and lifted another trophy.

It’s easy to quantify Bonmati’s Ballon d’Or credentials in straight-forward numbers like goals and assists, but to do so is also quite reductive. Although she has these statistics to boast, they only scratch the surface when telling the story of what a player she is.

Last year, the 26-year-old told GOAL that, around four or five seasons ago, she started to think more about what she needed to do if she wanted to become a complete player. “Not only score and make assists, but also do defensive tasks to help the team,” she explained.

In the time since that self-reflection, Bonmati has certainly added more to her all-round game. For example, in the Champions League last season, only the more defensive midfield duo of Ingrid Engen and Keira Walsh won possession back more often for Barcelona than their attack-minded team-mate. Even things like becoming more clinical with her weaker left foot have been goals for Bonmati.

These small ambitions, within the bigger ambitions of lifting titles, are only achievable when a player has an attitude like Bonmati’s. This is someone who wants to always get better, who describes defeats as “necessary” for learning and, in the words of her childhood friend Xavier Rovira, is a “perfectionist”.

It’s all come together with her remarkable talent to make her the best player in the world – again.