Cliff Notes – Aitana Bonmatí ready for ‘more competitive’ UWCL format
- Aitana Bonmatí anticipates a more competitive UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) this season due to the new Swiss model format, expanding from 16 to 18 teams.
- Barcelona, the reigning domestic treble winners, will begin their campaign against Bayern Munich on October 7, aiming to reclaim their title after being runners-up last year.
Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmatí ready for ‘more competitive’ UWCL format
Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmatí has said she is looking forward to a “more competitive” Champions League this season after winning the Ballon d’Or for the third time earlier this week.
Europe’s premier competition gets underway next month in a new format, with an expansion from 16 to 18 teams and the implementation of the Swiss model, mirroring the men’s tournament, whereby the group stage is replaced by a league phase.
Each team will have six unique fixtures, with Barça, beaten finalists last year, kicking off their campaign at home to German champions Bayern Munich on Oct. 7.
“I think it’s [going to be] a very exciting season because the Champions League is changing,” Bonmatí said at the stunning Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona on Thursday, where she paraded her three Ballons d’Or.
“In my opinion, I think it’s one of the best [things] they could do with the Champions League because it makes it more competitive. So it’s better for everyone.”
Aitana Bonmati is the first women to win the Ballon d’Or three times in a row. Photo By Javier Borrego/Europa Press via Getty Images
Barça will start among the favourites in the Champions League once again. They have won the competition three times and had lifted the trophy twice in a row before their reign as European champions was ended by Arsenal earlier this year.
The Catalan side’s success has boosted Bonmatí in her rise to being recognised as the best player in the world in each of the last three years.
After helping Barça win a domestic treble last season, as well as reaching the Champions League final with her club and the Euro 2025 final with Spain, losing to England, she pipped Arsenal’s Mariona Caldentey to this year’s Ballon d’Or at a ceremony in Paris on Monday.
In doing so, she became just the third player, after Michel Platini and Lionel Messi, to claim the coveted individual award in three successive years.
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“I think they are all special,” she said when asked to compare the three. “Each one has its own story behind it. This one was perhaps the most competitive year.
“I had minimal expectations, not necessarily very high ones. In fact, I didn’t even prepare a speech because that sets the expectations high and creates some pressure.
“This was the year with the most uncertainty and I didn’t know I had won until my name was called out.
“When I was little, I just played because I loved football and that was that. I didn’t think I would be able to dedicate myself to the sport, let alone that I would win three Ballons d’Or by 2025. It was a utopia to think that.”
Messi went on to win eight, which is not completely out of the question for Bonmatí, who has already netted five goals in four matches this season, if she continues to dominate the prize in the next few years given she is still just 27.
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“Those are huge words,” she smiled when asked if she could go on and match Messi’s tally.
“I try not to compare myself to anyone. Messi’s had and continues to have a career that, for me, is unrivalled. I am Aitana. I have my own path to follow.
“I am not thinking about winning eight — or even four! Ultimately, this is the result of working hard every day, perseverance and a lot of sacrifices. There’s no end goal other than to keep going day by day.”
