2023-08-10 06:40:12
If successful once morest the Netherlands on Friday in Wellington (03:00 / 01:00 GMT), Spain, an emerging nation of women’s football, will play its first World Cup semi-final, in three appearances.
If the double Golden Ball in title Alexia Putellas occupies the top of the poster, the performances of Paralluelo, her teammate in Barcelona, are not unrelated to the good course of the Iberians.
The left-hander, who started as a starter in the four matches played so far, shone in the round of 16 once morest Switzerland (5-1): her runs and crosses contributed to her team’s attacking festival, one of the best attacks in the competition.
Paralluelo’s good understanding with his two frontline colleagues, Jennifer Hermoso and Esther Gonzalez, allowed coach Jorge Vilda to vary the combinations.
“Salma is unstoppable,” Gonzalez admitted.
“She is unique. She is a rare profile, which comes from athletics, she has a lot of qualities with her left foot and her very good strike”, described her teammate Aitana Bonmati, who also rubs shoulders with her at Barça. , before the tournament.
The Zaragoza native grew one foot on the football field, another on the athletics tracks, where she excelled in the youth categories.
Well-rounded list
National champion in the 300 meters, triple jump, 60 meters hurdles and 300 meters hurdles, Paralluelo did not choose to devote herself seriously to football until the age of 16, following injuries that called into question her plans carried out at 1,000 an hour.
“I started both sports when I was seven years old. At first it was for fun. As I grew up, I gradually realized that I was gaining in power,” she said in an interview with the FIFA media.
“To aspire to great things, you have to be fully involved in a sport,” she said.
In the jersey of the selection, she wasted no time to open her prize list: world champion and European champion with the under-17s, she won the World Cup for the under-20s last year. last in Costa Rica.
Paralluelo scored twice in the final once morest the Japanese, which she might find in the semi-final of the World Cup “big”.
Transferred to Barcelona the same summer, from Villarreal, she also won the Championship and the Champions League in her first season with the Catalan juggernaut.
Its success inspired a Roja who came to Oceania to shake up the established order. Like Barça, which has made a place for itself among its English, French or German rivals, the Spaniards hope to strike a blow at the World Cup.
The early elimination of USA, Germany and Brazil may have cleared the way, but their Dutch opponents in the quarter-finals share the same ambitions and squad depth.
“The Spanish national team has a team with the 23 best players in the world,” coach Vilda said.
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