Aitana Bonmati revealed Spain had spotted Germany goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger 's tendency to step away from her near post after scoring from the tightest of angles to send the world champions into the Euro 2025 final.
The two-time Ballon d'Or winner broke the deadlock in the 113th minute of the semi-final when she squeezed a shot from close to the byline past the Germany goalkeeper, as Spain set up a World Cup final rematch with European champions England on Sunday .
Barcelona midfielder Bonmati confirmed after the match that she intended to shoot after Spain had studied Berger's positioning and found she often left the near post uncovered in anticipation of a cross or a pull-back.
Berger had signalled to her defenders with her right arm, pointing towards the space in the penalty box, just as Bonmati unleashed a fierce strike of power and accuracy to find the narrow gap Berger had left behind.
"We had studied Berger and sometimes the first post was left empty," Bonmati told Spanish TV station RTVE, as world champions Spain progressed to their first-ever European final.
Berger had been Germany's hero in their penalty shoot-out win over France in the quarter-finals and had kept Germany in the game during the first half with a string of saves to deny Spain forward Esther Gonzalez.
With the semi-final heading towards penalties, Bonmati broke the deadlock and the 1-0 victory meant that Spain defeated Germany for the first time at a major international tournament.
"I'm proud because we deserve it," Bonmati said. "We had a tremendous championship. It was the first time we beat Germany, and on top of that, we reached the final."
Bonmati has reached the Euro 2025 final after she was taken to hospital for treatment for viral meningitis the week before the tournament began.
The 27-year-old only joined up with Spain's squad a few days before their opening game against Portugal but did not make her first start of the tournament until the third game against Italy.
Bonmati has now produced magic moments to unlock both the quarter-finals and semi-finals for Spain, first setting up Athenea del Castillo's opener in the 2-0 win over Switzerland with a clever assist and then scoring from a tight angle to send Spain into the final.
