Montse Tomé: "It was very important to start with a win. Congratulations to the team."

The head coach, pleased with the victory, spoke to the media in the post-match press conference.

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Fri, 04/04/2025 - 23:52

After her team’s 2–4 win at Capital do Móvel in the first of two consecutive matches against Portugal in this UEFA Women’s Nations League qualifying phase, the coach reflected on the significance of the three points earned: "We value the victory – we’ve won and taken all three points against a very competitive side, and it was very important to start with a win. I think, as we told the players, we congratulated them. It’s tough to win in Portugal, and if you win it’s because you’ve competed well. Today, we competed well: 19 shots and 4 goals. To achieve that, there has to be good football. There’s always room for improvement, of course. We started seriously, that’s what we wanted, and we defended against what Portugal intended to do – to counter-attack. That’s their strength, their ability to break quickly, but we managed to control it. The team deserves credit."

🎙️ "Es muy difícil ganar en Portugal, cuando lo haces es que has competido bien".

🗣️ @montse_tome, seleccionadora nacional.#JugarLucharYGanar | #UWNL pic.twitter.com/NxIE629wFZ
— Selección Española Femenina de Fútbol (@SEFutbolFem) April 4, 2025

Despite the positive result, the coach also pointed to areas for development ahead of the return fixture: "We need to improve the pressure on the first ball and how we react when a player gets in behind us. There are various aspects we can continue to work on. But what the team did today deserves recognition. We're always the first to self-criticise. The players themselves are the first to want to improve, but today the team performed well."

🎙️ "España ha conseguido tres puntos contra una selección muy competitiva".

🗣️ @montse_tome.#JugarLucharYGanar | #UWNL pic.twitter.com/YIHk3GUJNo
— Selección Española Femenina de Fútbol (@SEFutbolFem) April 4, 2025

In four days’ time, Spain and Francisco Neto’s Portugal side will face each other again on Matchday 4, this time at Balaídos (Tuesday 8 April, 19:00 CET, live on La 2, TVE). Montse Tomé is well aware of the challenge: "This situation suits the coaches well, having just played them. In our last match, we created chances but couldn’t finish them. Today we created and scored. There are still things to improve. For example, around the 20th minute in the first half, our ball circulation could’ve been better. These are small moments that happen across the 90 minutes. If you score four goals against Portugal, it’s because you’ve done more right than wrong. Now we need to identify what to improve in order to be more balanced when we have the ball."