Montse Tomé: "It’s a privilege to coach this team"

Spain play their European Championships opening match tomorrow in Switzerland. The big day has finally arrived, the moment that players and coaching staff have been eagerly awaiting, and on this day before the first match of Group B, in just over 24 hours against Portugal, Montse Tomé answered questions from the dozens of journalists who packed the press room at the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern. Before the match, the message from the head coach to her team was to enjoy it: "I really enjoy this job, I’m not someone who gets very nervous. We’ve conveyed our confidence to the team, our confidence in them, and we’ve focused on enjoying our work. We have a group with incredible talent and lots of options. The last team talk was about enjoying the here and now, a training session to enjoy the feelings we have together. Tomorrow, we’re going all in."

Montse is happy with the work done up to now and how they are arriving at this, their big moment: "It’s an absolute privilege to lead this team. It’s a joy to wake up and be able to work with this ambitious and hard-working group and to prepare for this event with my staff. This is a new game, we start from zero. Sixteen teams will fight to achieve their goal. The preparation has been good and I hope everything goes well."

🎙️ "Esto es un juego en el que 16 selecciones lucharemos por un objetivo".

🗣️ @montse_tome, seleccionadora nacional.#WEURO2025 | #JugarLucharYGanar pic.twitter.com/TgGfwwgfz4
— Selección Española Femenina de Fútbol (@SEFutbolFem) July 2, 2025

Regarding Aitana and Cata, who have been absent in recent days due to medical issues, she confirmed their positive progress: "Aitana is progressing well. Yesterday, she completed part of the session with the conditioning coach but was working entirely separately. Her projection is very positive. Today, she will do some drills with the team. With Aitana, you can feel how eager she is, and we’ve had to hold her back a bit. According to the medical staff, her progress is positive. Her health is our priority, but her recovery is going well. Cata was able to be with the team and her progress is also positive."

There’s a lot of talk about Spain being favourites, but internally, Montse is clear on how to manage the expectations: "Inside the dressing room we don’t talk about being favourites. We’ve set short-term goals. We’ve focused on preparing the team well. We looked at how they were coming in after the break and adapted their preparations accordingly. We’ve found a group that’s very eager, eager to compete and work as a team. The labels that are put on us from the outside are not discussed internally."

The first step, the first hurdle, is Portugal: "Starting tournaments strongly is super important. They are a team that are dangerous in transitions and quick on the counter-attack. We need to control that very well and find our rhythm with the ball, to find our flow... Portugal will go all out for the win, just like us, and there will be moments we have to suffer and we have to persist. The team has a great deal of maturity to handle these moments, both moments when we´re on top and when we´re under the cosh."

🎙️ "Empezar estos torneos bien es muy importante".

🗣️ @montse_tome.#WEURO2025 | #JugarLucharYGanar pic.twitter.com/HtQCVsCcIh
— Selección Española Femenina de Fútbol (@SEFutbolFem) July 2, 2025

Irene Paredes won’t be on the pitch with the team but will be present off it, as captain: "Irene is our captain and she conveys the essence of professionalism every day. We’ve known for a year that she wouldn’t be able to take part. With the red card from the Czech Republic game, we can’t count on her as it’s the same competition. Aleixandri and María are likely to start there, as they did against Japan. Laia has been involved and has international experience, as does María, although it might seem like she’s played less, we’ve given her chances in friendlies and her level has been high, also with her club, where she’s played many minutes. I’m calm about our options and sure we’ll compete well."