Auckland: Spain defeated Switzerland 5-1 on Saturday to advance to the FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinals for the first time ever, and Aitana Bonmati played a key part with a brace and two assists.
Laia Codina's own goal in the first minutes of the game cancelled out Bonmati's early goal for Spain, but Alba Redondo restored Spain's advantage and Bonmati added another goal to make it 3-1.
Codina then made up for her error by scoring her team's fourth before the break, and Jennifer Hermoso made it 5-1 in the second half in front of 43,217 fans, a new record crowd for a football match in New Zealand.
After the terrible 4-0 defeat to Japan in the group stage, the 25-year-old Bonmati has vowed to try her best in the campaign.
"I'm here at the World Cup and I want to win. I don't care if we play badly, just as long as we win. Sometimes you play well and keep the ball, but it's not enough. We're going to compete, stop the opposition from scoring goals, and we'll take it from there," Bonmati said before the match against Switzerland.
This is the first time that Spain has ever won a game in the knockout stage of the World Cup — earning a spot in the quarterfinals, where it will face the winner of the Netherlands vs. South Africa.
With inputs from IANS