This was the moment of Arsenal, but the eye was attracted by the player in a Barcelona shirt whose day was. Aitana Bonmati is the excellent performer in the women's game, but this time the Champions League trophy had escaped her.
She was in tears on the last whistle, bent, down, in hands, beaten. Bossi was comforted by Leah Williamson, but many minutes had passed before one of her own teammates dared to approach her. This was a very personal sadness in a very public environment.
For what felt like an era, Bonmati won around the penalty box that Barcelona had trouble penetrating the past 90 minutes and more. A lonely figure, she was the last to collect the medal and the last one still applauded as Arsenal celebrated.
While other players were huddled or looked away, Bonmati forced himself to look up, as if this were her fine. She repeated this when greeting the fans too. It went on for more than half an hour. Maybe these things cut differently for the big ones.
There was a hug with her mother and still time for an animated tactical discussion with Barcelona technical director Marc Vives. Arsenal parade the trophy, but Bonmati was still processing and still tried to calculate how this game was not bent for her own will.
It must have been an alien feeling for an alien from a player. Bolmati had won three of the previous four Champions League finals with Barcelona, ​​the player of the game in two of them. A landslide winner of the last two Ballons d'Or, a Threepeat would still be no surprise.
This child of La Masia, someone who wears the No 14 shirt in honor of Johan Cruyff, has Xavi Hernandez among her many admirers. Pep Guardiola said she was the player who reminded him of Andres Iniesta – and that comparison is a compliment for Iniesta.
In Lisbon, such as the great and the good of the game collected for the showpiece of Europe, fellow players spoke in respectful terms about her genius. And they are no doubt that it is genius. The technology is more than comparable. Bolmati glides. But there is more here.
Speaking with Tatiana Pinto from Atletico Madrid, winner of 115 caps for Portugal, she tries to explain it. “It's how smart she is and how fast she is to go into space,” Pinto tells Sky Sports. “It is how available she is to receive the ball.” Brazilian legend Tamires agrees.
“Yes, I think it's her constant movement,” Tamires tells Sky Sports. “It's just so difficult for the person who has to mark her to catch her because she always thinks for the game and she always always goes to the right space.”
“She has that magic”
A chat with former Arsenal favorite Anita Asante turned out to be particularly enlightening. Asante is now a coach and skillfully breaks off what makes Bhamati so special. “In England we often relate hard work on work outside possession,” she tells Sky Sports.
“We do not often reformulate the game in the same way in terms of in possession. Players work equally difficult to get on the ball, stay on the ball and to be an option or to create space for others. That is hard work for me. To do it constantly, that is very hard work.
“Bossi always thinks about how the decision -making of the opposition player can be disputed. In which spaces I drag that player? She may not even be involved in the first phase, but she sees the game for others. That is her game intelligence.
“And when she receives the ball, she always scans, so if you add her technical skills, she can get pressure and with ease evade it. It is a huge technical ability to do that and be comfortable.
“To be comfortable enough to get out of trouble, to stay locked up, but get out of it, she has that sprout. That kind of spring to get away from people in tight spaces, to pull a player to the ball and then turn away. That is what she has. She has that magic.”
Rest under their best
And yet, against a spicy Arsenal side, one that resolutely defended and attacked the spaces behind the defense of Barcelona, ​​none of them turned out to be enough. Bossi held on to her principles, relied on the team, but there was always an arsenal body in the way.
They blocked three of her shots, while the many opportunities she created directly for others were missed. Much more of her openings that are stored or wasted. Bolmati is a team player. She needed her team to play better than this.
Alexia Putellas was far below her best. At 65 minutes, Bonmati showed the ball, but Caroline Graham Hansen opted for a shot from an absurd angle. On 82, Bonmati cleverly scooped the ball into the path of ONA Batlle, but she made a mess of the cross.
Sometimes the scalpel is simply not as effective as the front hammer. And by the way, it was Beth Mead who ensured the most important moment of subtlety of the game on the other side, with that inverted pass to Stina Blackstenius who ended Barcelona and Bonmati's four -fold dream.
At the age of 27 there will be many more moments for the world's best player to re -confirm her hold on the women's game. The Copa de la Reina has only been removed for fourteen days. Spain are favorites to win Euro 2025 this summer and add that prize to the World Cup won in 2023.
In that context it is perhaps a bit strange to shoot the focus on her, this once shoots the countless beautiful stories under the Underdogs of Arsenal. But there was something convincing looking at this emotional settlement for a top athlete.
That is the fascination of football. She was the best in the world that went into the game and still clearly the best in the world at the end of it. But as Arsenal celebrated, Aitana Bolmati, who feels that weight of responsibility that is accompanied by her greatness, could only sob.
Sky Sports to show 215 Live PL -Games next season
From next season, the Premier League coverage of Sky Sports will increase from 128 games to at least 215 games that are exclusively live.
And 80 percent of all Premier League matches broadcast on television will be on Sky Sports next season.