Athenea del Castillo: Spain's top scorer in the Nations League

Athenea del Castillo is in a rich vein of form as a senior international. The player from Cantabria is Spain's top scorer in this first edition of the UEFA Women's Nations League with a total of five goals.

The striker says that the team is excited to be playing in the final this week, saying “the squad is really looking forward to the final of the Nations League”. The match takes place this Wednesday at 19:00 at the Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville and pits Spain against France in an intriguing match that will decide the title: "We want to win and take the title home, you don't play a final every day".

On her current form, Athenea recognises that she is "training very well and feeling good. I'm trying to do my bit for the team, as I always do".

Her five goals in the qualifying phase for the Nations League final four deserve a separate chapter: "It's a part of my game that I needed to improve and, in this Nations League, I'm scoring more freely". Athenea can boast of having scored against all of Spain's opponents in qualifying: Sweden, Switzerland and Italy. However, for the Cantabrian, scoring goals is not the important thing in Wednesday's match, but she focuses more on helping the team win, either with a goal through her general play, stating she hopes "that she scores the winner or helps another team-mate score".

The scene for the final will also be very special for her. Athenea made her debut with the senior national team at La Cartuja Stadium on 23 October 2020, in a match in which Spain beat the Czech Republic by four goals to nil: "Returning to Seville and La Cartuja is always very special, but if I can win a title there, I would remember the stadium even more, if that’s possible, and it would be incredible".