Bonmatí proud of journey from meningitis to MVP

LAUSANNE -- Aitana Bonmatí has told ESPN of her pride at recovering from viral meningitis to be named MVP during Spain's 2-0 European Championship quarterfinal win over hosts Switzerland.

Bonmatí, 27, starred with a back heel to create the first goal as Spain set up a semifinal against Germany in Zurich on Wednesday.

The two-time Ballon d'Or winner's performance was all the more remarkable given she was hospitalised just days before the tournament with viral meningitis, leading to serious doubts over her participation in the finals.

"Three weeks ago I was in a hospital bed and a few days later I came on [in the first] game over here, [then] another match and then back-to-back 90 minutes," she said in an interview with ESPN.

"It's something to be proud of. I think it speaks a lot about my level of commitment to the team. I'm ambitious and I don't want to miss anything, as long as I'm healthy.

"It was a difficult process because I found myself in hospital unexpectedly. I suffered, obviously, but I had to drag myself out of that negative situation.

"It was no use dwelling on it. It was a difficult time because a Euros is only six games at most, but I tried to deal with it as well as possible."

Midfielder Bonmatí, who is aiming to lead Spain to a first ever Euros final this week, says it's that mindset which helped her reach the top of the game.

"If there is something that characterises me, it is this way of dealing with things; a resilient mentality," she added

"I don't like to say strong, because we all go through tough moments. I'm not hiding suffering, it's simply how you face adversity, because there is always adversity in life. It is how you face it that marks you out.

"I think that mentality of never giving up, of not seeing adversity as a problem, but as a possible opportunity to come out stronger, to prove my worth to myself ... it's good to have those qualities.

"I'm not saying it's always the best, but to try to look on the positive side, it's good to have these situations to really realise your worth, isn't it?"

It's an outlook which sees Bonmatí constantly deliver in the big games. In scooping the MVP prize against Switzerland, she became the first woman to win said award in the knockout stages of the Champions League, the Euros and the World Cup.

"That makes me very proud," she said. "I have worked hard to be here, at this level, and to stay here, which is the complicated part -- to always stay at the top level and never drop off.

"There was a statistic recently about [me being] the [female] player with the most games in the world in the last five or six years. That says a lot about my work, my mentality, my resilience, how I live football and how I take care of myself to always be fit and available.

"Luckily, I have been able to play a lot of games without stopping, but the hardest part is to keep going. I try not to drop my level and to continue to have that ambition, which is what drives me in the end to keep competing and get up every day with the same desire as the first day.

"Right now, I am 100% focused on giving the best of myself to serve [Spain]. I believe that if we all give the best of ourselves and put ourselves at the service of the team, that's when this team performs at an unstoppable level."

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Bonmatí has had a staggering amount of success in her career to date, winning 25 trophies with Barça, including three Champions Leagues, a World Cup and a UEFA Nations League with Spain, and the biggest individual prizes in the world.

However, she is yet to win the Euros, a trophy Spain have never won in their history, either. If La Roja manage to change that this month, the medal could find a home in the museum she reveals she wants to open in her hometown, Sant Pere de Ribes, just outside of Barcelona.

"We are working on [a museum]," she divulges. "We want to do it in Ribes. I would like to put everything I have won in there, but also things that fans have given me, like I don't know how to say it, but [create an] Aitana Bonmatí space where people can also see who I am as a person, my career.

"Obviously the trophies. But much more than that: what I've been collecting from fans, the shirts from the players I play with and against. It's a way to tell my story, if you will, reflected in a space people can visit."