How Aitana Bonmati won a third successive Ballon d'Or - and entered the GOAT debate

When Bonmati first really marked herself out as one of the best players on the planet on a wider scale in that 2020-21 season, she was just 23 years old and by no means playing at the level she is right now - yet her talent shone as Barcelona marched to a first Women's Champions League title. 

Being named Player of the Match in the final, as the Catalans battered Chelsea 4-1, set the tone for the years to come. So often, Bonmati has scooped up those accolades on the biggest stages.

For those that followed Barca's mesmerising journey to that triumph, it was a real shock when the Ballon d'Or nominees were revealed. Not only did Bonmati deserve to be battling for the award, team-mate Caroline Graham Hansen did too. 

Both would've been worthy inclusions on the podium as Alexia Putellas deservedly picked up her first Golden Ball. Fortunately, such snubs are a thing of the past for Bonmati at this point - and that's because Bonmati's brilliance has become obvious to absolutely everyone over the last four years. 

At Euro 2022, she was Spain's top performer on a huge stage, earning herself inclusion in the Team of the Tournament despite La Roja's quarter-final exit. Every other member of the XI at least made the semi-finals, except Bonmati.

That ability to not only withstand the pressure of the toughest challenges but seemingly get better when the moments are so great went up another level in the 2022-23 season, as she helped Barca win their second Champions League title and Spain win a first Women's World Cup. 

She was the Champions League Player of the Season, the Player of the Match in the World Cup final and the Player of the Tournament for the whole event. All of those honours make her MVP award in the Supercopa de Espana final seem rather small, but that is further evidence of her being a player who rises to the occasion.

She would go on to be named the Champions League Player of the Season in three successive campaigns, claim another Player of the Match award in a UWCL final and be crowned the Best Player at the 2025 European Championships, amid her three successive Ballons d'Or, back-to-back triumphs at the FIFA Best awards and so much more. 

Quite simply, this is a player who never goes missing. And Bonmati has worked to make sure that is the case. 

Over the last few years, the diminutive midfielder has refined and enhanced her game to become the kind of complete footballer who is always able to influence a match, no matter how it is playing out.

When she first burst onto the scene, it was her intelligent movement and remarkable technical skill that stood out. With experience, she would start to translate the attacking threat that carried into reliable goal-scoring numbers. 

After hitting nine in all competitions in the 2019-20 season, the midfielder has passed double figures in all five seasons since. The statistics are not the be all and end all, but she makes sure she is always contributing.

There was a conscious effort from Bonmati to work on the defensive side, too, so that her impact on her team was not limited to one end of the pitch. 

"I'm little," she said with a laugh, speaking to GOAL about this during the 2022-23 season, "but I try to help the team also in defensive tasks, in every part of the pitch. Three or four years ago, I decided that if I wanted to be a complete player, I had to do those things also. Not only score and make assists, but also do defensive tasks to help the team."

After ticking off that particular box, Bonmati then started to become more influential in possession in deeper areas, rather than just in and around the box. Part of the drive behind that element related to what Jonatan Giraldez, the previous head coach at Barcelona, wanted from her in his set-up in the 2021-22 campaign in particular.

However, even as the demands on her have changed, for club and country, that comfort she has in dropping deep, picking up the ball and dictating games is still so evident. She really can do it all.

It's that evolution which makes her the best player in the world. No matter what the opposition is doing, no matter what the game state might look like, no matter the situation her team are in, Bonmati is able to morph her game into one which best suits the circumstances, because she is so talented, so intelligent and so well-learned. Because of that, it's essentially impossible for an opponent to shut her down, too. She is always going to leave her mark on a match.

There were plenty of examples of that this past year which led to Bonmati winning the 2025 Ballon d'Or Feminin. Her performance in the Champions League semi-final second leg, against Chelsea, was a particularly classy display, one marked by an excellent goal, and her performance in the quarter-final first leg win over Wolfsburg was perhaps even better. For Spain, her match-winning display in the semi-final win over Germany stands out. Again, these were all huge occasions.

And there were plenty of examples in the 2023-24 season, which led to Bonmati winning the 2024 Ballon d'Or Feminin, and there were plenty of examples, too, in the 2022-23 season, which led to Bonmati winning the 2023 Ballon d'Or Feminin. 

Even going back to 2022, she landed herself fifth place in the voting, having been deserving of a nomination but somehow not getting one in 2021. We're talking about remarkable consistency at the highest level and a steady increase in all-round quality along the way.

Most incredibly of all, we're talking about someone who still has her peak years ahead of her. If Bonmati called time on her career now, she would already be considered an all-time great. 

She has won three successive Ballons d'Or, been named Player of the Match in a World Cup final that she helped Spain to win, won a Player of the Tournament accolade at a European Championship, lifted three Champions League titles - and been elected Player of the Match in two of those finals - all while winning 22 domestic trophies with Barcelona. When observers look back on this period of women's football's history, Bonmati will be a main character.

And yet, she's by no means done. She is entering what is widely considered the prime for a football player, especially a midfielder. What is stopping her from winning a fourth Ballon d'Or? Or a fifth? Or a sixth? 

In Bonmati, we could well be watching a player who ends up becoming the GOAT. She's just so special - and utterly impossible to ignore.