Spain surge into World Cup quarters as Bonmatí leads rout of Switzerland

An Aitana Bonmatí masterclass has steered Spain to a 5-1 thrashing of Switzerland and into the Women’s World Cup quarter-finals for the first time.

Superstar midfielder Bonmatí scored a brilliant double and was at the heart of everything good for the European powerhouses. Laia Codina scored at both ends with Alba Redondo and Jennifer Hermoso also on target at Eden Park.

Spain will next face the winner of Sunday’s match between the Netherlands and South Africa in Sydney, and appear to be finding their best form. Their coach, Jorge Vilda, swung the axe after the 4-0 group stage thrashing from Japan, benching five players including the two-times Ballon d’Or winner, Alexia Putellas.

Vilda also dropped the starting goalkeeper, Misa Rodríguez, for Barcelona’s Cata Coll, who made her international debut, while defender Codina made her first start of the tournament. Spain’s much-changed line-up only needed five minutes to take control.

The Swiss goalkeeper, Gaëlle Thallman, made a wonderful save to deny Alba Redondo but the attacker recovered and worked the ball back to Bonmatí, who threaded the needle to open the scoring in front of a crowd of 43,217 - a record for a soccer game in New Zealand, women or men.

Switzerland got a foothold in the game via Codina’s catastrophic own goal six minutes later. In attempting to deal with a long ball, the centre-back elected to turn the ball towards Coll, who clearly wasn’t expecting a back pass. The ball instead went beyond the keeper and into the back of the net.

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Redondo calmed Spanish nerves when she headed home a lovely cross from Ona Battle in the 17th minute. Bonmatí then forced a wonderful diving save from Thallman in the 33rd minute with a fantastic, skidding left-footed volley.

Three minutes later, Bonmatí pounced on a cross with her right foot, swivelled on the ball and worked it onto her left before coolly drilling home. Codina then bundled home Spain’s fourth from a corner just before half-time to earn redemption and put Spain 4-1 up at the break.

Switzerland should have pulled a goal back after early in the second half. Ana Crnogorcevic brilliantly teed up Meriame Terchoun but the substitute shot straight at Coll. Spain added another in the 71st minute when Bonmatí pounced on a loose Switzerland pass and played in Hermoso, who coolly completed the rout.

“A 5-1 [victory] in the round of 16 is not easy,” Bonmatí said afterwards. “I have a lot of confidence in this team and now we are going for the quarter-finals. We needed to recover after the tough defeat [to Japan] … taking off all the pressure and things we had in our heads from the past. We came here to win and that’s how it was.”

“We have shown what we can do and without having the best version,” coach Jorge Vilda said. “So, in the end we have arrived, we have pressed well, we have made history, we have shown that we are a team of 23 players. Today, they are not words, they are deeds and we are happy, to be honest.”

The Swiss coach, Inka Grings, was philosophical in defeat. “There is nothing that any of my players did wrong. They did everything right. They played a really, really good tournament,” the German said. “I think that my team has invested everything and I’m very, very proud of them.”