The Spanish women’s team began qualifying for next year’s European Championship in Switzerland with a resounding victory in Leuven against Belgium in a match in which Montse Tomé could not count on the injured Aitana Bonmatí and Cata Coll, but did recover Alexia Putellas. After winning the World Cup and the Nations League, Spain demonstrated to maintain a very high level.
The meeting did not have much history. Spain had already resolved it in the first quarter of an hour, in which they had put distance on the scoreboard with two goals. In between, Paralluelo failed in a one-on-one match that would have been the third.
Jenni Hermoso played a leading role in the first two goals. Spain started with very high pressure and Belgium had no arguments to stop Montse Tomé’s players. The 0-1 arrived in the seventh minute and was created in a corner kick that Tere Abilleira took. The ball bounced off Hermoso and fell to Paralluelo, who put it in the net with a shot that passed between several Belgian players. The score was immediately 0-2, in the fifteenth minute, after a play by Athenea del Castillo that Jenni herself closed with a close shot against the post.
The third came before half an hour, in the 29th minute, after an exquisite piece by Alexia Putellas, a backheel that left Paralluelo in a good position so that the Barcelona forward could not forgive.
In many phases of the first half the match was a rondo of the Spanish on the edge of the Belgian area, with the rival retreating trying to close the gaps with a line of five. In Spain the sides went up and the entire team was dedicated to playing with great intensity.
The second half began with two changes in the Spanish team. Laia Aleixandri and Olga Carmona left and María Méndez and Sheila García entered. And two minutes later, Spain scored the fourth with a center from Ona ??Batlle and a shot in the small area by Salma Paralluelo, her hat trick.
From there the pace slowed down. At the hour mark, Tomé took out the scorers, Paralluelo and Hermoso to bring on Esther González and Fiamma. Esther scored 0-5 a minute after going out to Athenea’s center. Then Esther had another goal disallowed for offside but the 0-6 came from a distant header from Sheila García, a ball that made a perfect parabola and surpassed the rival goalkeeper.
Esther closed the score in the 88th minute. Athenea fought for a ball that seemed impossible and her cross was taken advantage of by the former Real Madrid player and Gotham player to make it 0-7 from close range. This brought an end to the exhibition of the world champions in Belgium.
