The China Mail - Spain the stars as Women's Euro 2025 heads into knockouts

The most talented squad at the tournament, Spain rattled in 14 goals, including four for leading scorer Esther Gonzalez, on their way to topping Group B and remain red-hot favourites to win their first European crown.

Alexia Putellas has bolstered her claim for a third Ballon d'Or as the shining light of a Spain outfit which has sprinkled stardust over the competition.

Barcelona star Putellas scored three goals and set up four more in Spain's three group games as she brought her sparkling club form to her national team.

Putellas told AFP last week that she is "enjoying" the tournament after roaring back to her best form last season following an injury nightmare which began with an ACL tear just before the start of the last Euros three years ago.

"It was a tough time, like any injury that any athlete has if it's serious. They leave you with those lessons and you savour every moment," said Putellas.

"Maybe when you enter a cycle of competing, competing, competing, you don't stop to appreciate everything. But I'm enjoying every day here at the Euros."

The stars seem to be aligning for Spain who also have current Ballon d'Or holder Aitana Bonmati fully match fit after she started her first match of the tournament in Friday's 3-1 win over Italy.

Bonmati's chances of playing in Switzerland briefly looked in doubt when she was struck with a bout of viral meningitis days before Spain's opening group match against Portugal.

But she recovered quickly enough to feature in the 5-0 hammering of the Portuguese and the following 6-2 beating of Belgium before making the starting XI for Italy.

"She did a good job coming off a difficult situation, and she was really looking forward to starting some games," said Spain coach Montse Tome.

Spain will also have a full week to prepare for their clash with their Swiss hosts, which will be played on Friday in front of a passionate crowd in Bern.

- England threat? -

However, for all that Spain are free-flowing and full of goalscoring dynamos, they can be got at, as shown in matches against Belgium and Italy who both created a series of opportunities against the high Spanish defensive line.

Among the teams standing in Spain's way are England and Sweden, who face off in a blockbuster quarter-final which is also a replay of the Lionesses thumping last-four victory on their way to winning the last Euros.

England and Sweden are both on the other side of the knockout draw from Spain, who will face one of Germany or dark horses France in the semi-finals if La Roja get past the Swiss.

And the Swedes laid down a marker with Saturday's 3-1 win over Germany which sealed top spot in Group C, a sensational performance which suggested they could get revenge on England for defeat in 2022.

But England coach Sarina Wiegman cut a confident figure after her team demolished Wales 6-1 on Sunday and is unconcerned about the path to the final.

"I think that in tournaments, that it's really tricky to think 'we want to go that way (in the draw) because then we might have this and this'. If you start thinking like that, that's very tricky," she told reporters.

"What you're trying to do is win every game and then see where you finish in the group and then you'll play who's against you or in front of you and that's what it is. If you want to be successful in the tournament, you should be able to win every single game."

France, like England, scored 11 times in the group stage and with the hot form of Delphine Cascarino will be a handful for any team after winning Group D, the toughest in the tournament, with a perfect nine points.

K.Leung--ThChM