Chelsea face their UEFA Women’s Champions League nemeses Barcelona on Thursday, with Aitana Bonmatí’s presence a reminder of the standard they still aspire to.
For Chelsea, success in the UEFA Women’s Champions League has become an obsession, one which Barcelona have almost singlehandedly prevented them fulfilling in recent years.
It was understandable, then, that in their bid to be the best, they set out to acquire the best. This was evident in successfully luring Lucy Bronze and then Keira Walsh back to the WSL from Barcelona, joining in July 2024 and January 2025, respectively.
But if Chelsea had got their way, those two wouldn’t have been the only ones to swap blaugrana for blue.
Aitana Bonmatí was the subject of strong interest from Chelsea in 2024; given she’d already won the Ballon d’Or back-to-back at the time, such a move would’ve been as significant a statement of intent as was possible.
Chelsea were desperate to make the strides needed after their – albeit controversial – 2024 Champions League semi-final elimination by Barcelona, who became European champions for the third time in four seasons. Taking Bonmatí might’ve been the decisive needle mover.
But in September 2024, Bonmatí signed a new contract with Barcelona, keeping her at her “home” until 2028. Chelsea’s interest supposedly helped her securing what was reported at the time as being the most lucrative contract in the women’s game.
And as it happened, Bonmatí went on to play an instrumental role as Barcelona dismantled Chelsea in the 2024-25 Champions League semi-finals, helping them to an 8-2 aggregate win that provided another reminder of the gulf Sonia Bompastor’s side still needed to bridge.
They renew hostilities again at Stamford Bridge on Thursday, but since their last meeting, it could be argued that some of the mystique and aura that once reflected the near-invincibility of Barcelona has been diminished by their shock Champions League final loss to Arsenal in May.
So long as Bonmatí is on the field, however, Barcelona know they have a potential trump card.
The Spanish champions certainly aren’t a one-woman team, and Bonmatí is just one part of an exceptional midfield alongside Patri Guijarro and Alexia Putellas. But what makes Bonmatí so integral – and why Chelsea were so keen – is the breadth of her influence.
Of course, there are the ‘headline’ goals and assists numbers that do a reasonable job of highlighting how decisive she can be; for instance, since the start of the 2024-25 season, Bonmatí’s 27 Liga F goal involvements is the fourth most in the division even though she plays as part of Barcelona’s midfield three.
And yet, goal involvement metrics hardly scratch the surface when outlining what Bonmatí brings to her team, and that in itself should be seen as a hallmark of her quality.
First and foremost, she is exactly what we’ve come to expect of the archetypal Barcelona midfielder when in possession. She controls the ball with that quintessential effortlessness of a La Masia graduate, and like is often said about the greatest players, Bonmatí almost always seems to have time.
It’s like she’s a step ahead. There’s a sense she always knows what she’ll do next before the ball is even under her spell, which is why she’s such a smart operator in congested areas.
In that respect, her high football IQ is probably best pinpointed by her ability under pressure.
During Spain’s run to the 2025 UEFA Women’s Championship final in the summer, 88% (365/415) of Bonmati’s touches were under pressure, which was the greatest proportion of any player to have at least 65 touches. So, that paints a picture of how much attention the opposition paid her.
But her use of the ball remained excellent in such situations, completing 87.7% of her passes (270/308) under pressure. Among non-defenders to attempt at least 80 passes under pressure, her success rate was bettered by only three players.
Furthermore, she ranked joint third for chances created via passes under high pressure (9), while 14.6% of her total passes qualified as line-breaking passes under pressure, the fourth highest among non-defenders (100+ passes).
In short, then, she thrived and played a crucially influential role for Spain despite being so keenly watched by opponents, slicing teams open in the process. We also have to remember she’d been in hospital with viral meningitis a matter of days before the tournament began.
Clearly, Bonmatí’s technique is central to her effectiveness under pressure, but that technical quality also makes her an incredibly rounded midfielder. Whether bursting forward with the ball, holding on to it in deeper areas in anticipation of the perfect passing lane opening up, or receiving possession in tight spaces, she just never looks out of place.
But when thinking about where her talents are put to most devastating use, it would have to be around the edge of the opposition’s box.
Bonmatí operates with real intricacy in attack. The way she combines with teammates in that area outside the box is often a joy to behold because she makes it look so simple when the margin for error is tiny.
Delicate layoffs have almost become a niche trademark of hers, with her 32 lay-offs – defined as laying the ball into the path of a teammate’s run – the most in Liga F last season, and her nine this term rank her second. While they haven’t all been notable, this output does reflect the quality she offers as a link-up player.
Of course, there’s also the pure creative side to her game.
It cannot be ignored just how inventive she is, with her 84 chances created in open play more than anyone else in Liga F since the start of last season. And the map below shows how many of those chances are concentrated around the opposition’s area.
But then there’s the other side to that creativity that won’t be shown by the more conventional metrics such as chances created, assists or even expected assists; it’s the side you may only notice by focusing on her. And this is where her broader influence becomes clearer.
Yes, Bonmatí creates chances with a regularity to rival the most creative attackers, but then she also has a habit of finding other creators in positions where they can do damage. We refer to these passes as ‘secondary chances created’, defined as when a player makes the pass before the one that leads to a shot. It’s a metric that tends to reward the more inventive and progressive deep-lying playmakers by helping quantify the value of smart distribution in build-up phases.
Since the start of the 2024-25 Liga F season, Bonmatí’s 62 secondary chances created in open play is the most of all players in the division, and 16 of those – also a league-high record in that time – have led to goals.
In fact, you can go even deeper than that.
The number of unique open-play passing moves a player is involved in can give an idea of their importance to a team’s build-up play, and Bonmatí’s been a part of 28 more shot-ending moves (307) than anyone else in Liga F since the start of last season.
Although she does drop to fourth (134) when you remove shots and chances created from the total, the three ahead of her (Mapi León, Patri Guijarro and Ona Batlle) all play deeper, less-pressurised roles than Bonmatí.
It’s unmistakable, then, that Bonmatí’s distribution is a vital component of her game, and combined with her intelligence, it’s probably what helps her hold such influence over a team.
But it shouldn’t be overlooked what she brings out of possession as well, because that would be a disservice to how complete she is as a footballer.
In Liga F over the past year and a bit, her 52 possession regains in the final third is the most of anyone and she remains as high as second (1.8) on a per-90 basis (810+ mins played). This is obviously important considering how quickly Barcelona look to win the ball back, and she’s clearly a key component in their high press.
But Bonmatí is also an effective competitor on a one-vs-one level. ‘True tackles’ rewards defenders for getting a touch on the ball even if their opponents retain possession, and it penalises those who commit fouls when attempting a tackle. It gives a more nuanced view of player effectiveness when defending in one-vs-one situations, and Bonmatí comes out well, boasting a ‘true tackle’ success rate of 71.9% to rank 15th out of 203 players (40+ ‘true tackles) since the start of 2024-25. Among the same players, her 10.4% ‘dribbled past’ rate is the 10th lowest.
There’s little polarisation when it comes to perceptions of Bonmatí’s quality. At 27, she’s already a true great, as solidified by her three successive Ballon d’Or wins, and a player of immense authority – it’s no wonder her father likens her on-field persona to that of a “cop”.
But for a certain section of the women’s football world, there remains an itch Bonmatí’s yet to scratch, and it comes back to comments she made herself shortly after signing her new contract, as she blasted the Spanish football authorities for failing to establish continued growth for Liga F.
“If I started to look at Liga F, without taking Barcelona into account, I wouldn’t have stayed here,” she told The Athletic. “That’s how clear I say it. It’s sad to see how other leagues are overtaking us at an incredible speed when we have the potential to be a top league – because of the successes of Barcelona and the national team. [The league is] stagnating, it’s not getting any better.”
Since the Spanish women’s top flight was rebranded to Liga F for 2022-23, Barcelona have won the title each season with at least an eight-point cushion, and across the three full seasons to date, they’ve won 95.6% of their games and had a goal difference of +347 – rivals Real Madrid had a goal difference of +155 over the same period. Similarly, Barcelona remain the only Spanish club to reach the semi-finals of the Women’s Champions League.
Beyond the Champions League, the competitiveness of the competitions Barcelona play in is minimal – as the Opta Power Rankings graphic above highlights. That hasn’t been an issue yet as they’ve won six league titles on the spin and reached six of the past seven UWCL finals, so maybe the club will continue to excel despite the lack of a challenge in Liga F.
But if they don’t, Bonmati’s already delivered her warning.
“The most important thing is the football level of the team I want to play for. I am an ambitious person and I want to keep winning,” she also said in that interview with The Athletic.
Barcelona’s long-term trajectory may depend on whether Liga F can match their ambition, but Bonmatí’s own hunger has never been in doubt. It is what pushed her to stay, to demand more, to lead. And it is what Chelsea must now confront again.
Her presence on Thursday is more than a tactical problem; it is a reminder of the standards Chelsea have been chasing for years.
Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
Aitana Bonmatí, Chelsea, and the One Who Got Away Opta Analyst.
Hence then, the article about aitana bonmati chelsea and the one who got away was published today ( ) and is available on The Analyst ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Aitana Bonmatí, Chelsea, and the One Who Got Away )
Also on site :
- Golfer Masashi ‘Jumbo’ Ozaki dies at 78
- Nona Biosciences Expands Integrated Discovery-to-Clinical Capabilities Through Strategic Platform Growth
- Sanofi to Acquire Dynavax, Adding a Marketed Adult Hepatitis B Vaccine and Phase 1/2 Shingles Candidate to the Pipeline