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Women’s National Team

Montse Tomé: ‘The team has a lot of ambition. The first objective is to get the three points against Belgium’.

The coach spoke to the media after announcing her squad for the games against Belgium and England.
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Wed, 21/05/2025 - 16:50

The national team are in the run up to the last two matches of the UEFA Women's Nations League qualifiers, corresponding to Matchdays 5 and 6 of Group A3, which they currently lead. They face Belgium, whom they started the group against with a spectacular comeback win on the first matchday, and England, who they at lost to narrowly Wembley. The objective is clear: to maintain their lead and continue to defend their title as reigning champions of the tournament. 

And they hope to do so in Barcelona. It will be their first time in the city of Barcelona and this is how satisfied the coach was: ‘To transmit the joy of being here in Cornellà. The management and the presidency have a tremendous desire to promote women's football. I started to hear people ask in the corridors about going to Barcelona. Work was done, things were done well and it was said in advance that we would be here on 3 June. I want to encourage Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain to be at their best for a top level match. For us, being in Barcelona for the first time is a pleasure and a source of pride. The men's team has already played here and there was great excitement.

Montse also spoke about the importance of the clashes against Belgium and England: ‘Our primary objective is to get the three points against Belgium. Then we have to focus on England and after on the European Championships. The match against England will be a great game, remember that we are the two teams that played in the World Cup final. We want to be as competitive as possible. We approach these matches with the utmost concentration, with our eyes firmly set on our objective. The team has a lot of ambition. Belgium can't surprise us and we know how we have to be as a team. The match against England is different. They are a top level team with top level players. This team has to know how to play the team it faces and we are working on that. The good thing is the flexibility and the ability of the team we have’.

Montse emphasised the quality of the players who have the chance to wear this shirt: ‘It's not the final squad. There are 25 players that we can see in this window. Only 23 will be able to go to the European Championships. The objective is to win the three points against Belgium and qualify for the Nations. There is a pre-list of 70 players. The players who have entered in this squad have had an important run in the last few windows. The message is to send a message that we hope that everyone can be at the highest level and be ready to perform. Whatever has happened, we have been able to count on players who have contributed a lot. The good thing is to be able to choose for what's to come, we have a lot of talent, which is very nice’.

Ahead of them, many of their players have key dates such as the Champions League final and the Copa de la Reina. To see her players playing in these matches is a source of great pride: ‘For us it is an ideal scenario to have 12 players in the Champions League final. To see these matches is to see our players at the highest level. These are two teams that have been the best European teams that have ever played football. It's a gift to see our players in this context. We will be there as coaches. The whole of Spain has to see that final. May football reign and may our players finish successfully.

The schedule is very tight ahead of the European Championships but Montse Tomé is confident in her staff and their ability to adapt to the circumstances: ‘We ask the team for intelligence and adaptation to anything we can't control. We are going to do well. With regard to the Copa de la Reina we will adapt the start of the Euros training camp and make two groups and be able to help the players. Then, we will work together. The previous window was one with many matches surrounding it, in March there were many club matches and together with all the staff we were able to adapt the planning and get of a feel of what condition players arrived in and see how to help them. I'm confident that we can do that well again now’.

 

Watch Montse Tomé's press conference after the call-up for the matches against Belgium and England.

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