UEFA Women's EURO 2025: No Bonmati, no bother

The first football team has thrown down the gauntlet at EURO 2025, and who else other than Spain.

World Champions and UEFA Nations League winners, the supremely impressive squad are tipped to win the entire thing – and a 5-0 thumping of Portugal on Thursday evening (3 July) proved exactly why.

It took just two minutes for La Roja to hit the ground running through Esther González, slotting home Olga Carmona’s lofted ball over the top.

18-year-old Vicky López doubled their lead five minutes later, finishing off a lovely team move that carved through the Portuguese back line.

Alexia Putellas marked her return to the EUROs with a composed third, almost three years on from missing the 2022 edition through a long-term knee injury.

Just before the break, González added her second of the game, while Cristina Martín-Prieto bagged the fifth in stoppage time at the end of 90 minutes to kick off Spain's campaign in style.

It is the first game of the competition so far to be won by more than a one-goal margin, as the Spaniards make a real statement of intent in Bern.

Elsewhere in Group B, Italy edged past Belgium 1-0, courtesy of a sublime Arianna Caruso strike in the first half.

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