The 18-year-old midfielder Vicky Lopez is by far the youngest in the team of world champion Spain at the European Championship in Switzerland (July 2-27). Many experts trust the super talent of FC Barcelona there. If star player Aitana Bonmatí fails, she could be in focus directly.
It is a bad news for Spain just a few days before the EM start against Portugal (Thursday, July 3rd). In the team of the many stars of Salma Paralluelo to Alexia Putellas to Irene Paredes, perhaps the greatest threatens: Aitana Bonmatí, Ballon-d’Or winner of the past two years, was brought to a clinic for viral meningitis. The course of the disease? “Uncertain,” says the top favorite camp on the title.
This means that the eyes automatically focus on Vicky Lopez. A player whose star is not yet bright on the football sky, but who definitely has what it takes to change soon – now even faster than expected. When Bonmatí already watched from the bedside on Friday in the last test game against Japan (3-1), Montse Tomé brought 18-year-old Lopez from the beginning.
The trainer’s trust is no coincidence: in the club in Barcelona and also in the national team, she has impressively demonstrated her football skills several times. And so it is not surprising that many football experts predict a great future for her.
Lopez: “I only listen to my trainers and Team colleagues “
Lopez himself deals with the hymns of praise and laurels – and that is also unusual for her age – extremely calm and clarified. “I try not to hear too much on what is said from the outside. I just listen to my closest confidants, the coaches and my teammates who always want the best for me”said Lopez in an interview with the Spanish newspaper “Marca”.
Your goal is “Learning, working and getting better every day”. It doesn’t help to look at what is written on social media. “Many people tell me that I can progress very quickly, but in reality I am lucky enough to have people near me who help me concentrate and be the person I am.” At the beginning of her football career, these people also included her youth coach in Madrid. “Alba Melldao made me a great person and a great player”Lopez is still grateful to her today.
19th birthday the day before the European Championship final
On average, the players in the 23-member Spanish European Championship squad are 26.3 years old, the oldest is Paredes at the age of 33-and no player except Lopez is younger than 21. “Chick” In the team of the title favorites, the 18-year-old, who was born on July 26, 2006 in Madrid and thus turns 19 on the day before the European Championship final, is in dispute.
So what prompted Tomé to take the offensive midfielder Lopez as a youngster to the EM in Switzerland at her first big tournament as a responsible national coach? Quite simply: Because she already has so much football class that you couldn’t get past her nomination.
GSN analysis: Lopez can make the difference
The data experts from Global Soccer Networks (GSN) have dealt intensively with the games and especially the style of play by Lopez. In their analysis, they come to the conclusion that the 18-year-old performed on the pitch that is more than unusual for their age.
Lopez could make the difference, especially in narrow games, GSN is convinced. Actually in the role as a interchangeable player, in the event of a possible Bonmatí failure, may even even be done from the start. For example, she brings the necessary playmaker qualities to find solutions in the last third of the field: creativity, vertical play and risky.
- Technical level on world class course: Vicky López is an exceptional talent with ball treatment that protrudes in the FC-Barcelona system. Her ball control in narrow rooms, the first touch of the ball and her balance in the dribbling remind you of experienced playmakers – but with her all of this is present at the age of 18.
- Space interpretation and movement without ball: Their ability to position yourself between the lines is particularly impressive. It recognizes overcharges in the half -area, can be fallen into the space or starts runs in depth – without leaving the construct of the formation. Their movements look intuitive, but are extremely valuable tactically.
- Pass game with an understanding of dynamics: López does not play alibi passes. Your passes have direction, intent and often a surprising component: an interface ball with the outside of the outside, a lupfer behind the chain or a short double pass in a small space. It pays attention to the timing of the walking path – a rarity in this age group.
- Brave game decisions under pressure: Vicky López takes risks, but controlled. She has no shyness to break away from pressure situations with a contact or break through the pressing line with a dribbling. Her actions are very calm, even if the opposing six is on her feet.
- Mentality and presence on the pitch: Despite her age, it looks like a structural figure. She calls teammates in order, demands balls, controls the game pace – and radiates a matter of course as if it had been there for ten years. This mental maturity makes her the potential leader of the next generation.
Youngest debutant in Spain’s league F
Lopez has been used to a lot of hype about her person for years – especially since she became the youngest debutantian ever in the highest Spanish league, the league F in the 2021/2022 season. She already celebrated several championships and cup wins with Barca, also with the two Champions League triumph 2023 and 2024.
And she has already collected a world championship title: At the 2022 U17 World Cup in Bosnia and Herzegovina, she not only won the final with Spain, but was also honored with the “Golden Ball” as the best player in the tournament. In 2023, the UEFA was one of the ten most promising young football players in Europe.
Lopez also wrote history in the national team last year: No player in front of her played her first A-international game in Spain at the age of 17. Already in her second mission, she already secured the first title with the winning of the Nations League.
A goal in the Champions League, ten in the league
Last season Lopez came to 25 league missions in the Star ensemble of FC Barcelona. She stood in the starting eleven 17 times and contributed ten goals to the championship title. It was used eight times in the Champions League, five times in the competitive games of the national team.
- In total: 43 games | 11 goals | 18 templates | 2,062 minutes
- Primera División: 25 games | 10 goals | 8 templates
- Champions League: 8 games | 1 gate | 1 template
- Nations League A: 3 games | 2 templates
- EM qualification: 2 games
- Cup competitions (Supercopa, Copa, Catalunya): 5 games | 5 templates
With all sporting successes and the prospect of a great career in the club and with the national team, Lopez remains modest. In her family, everyone would always have held together and helped themselves.
The mother from Nigeria, especially after the death of her in 2018 – was just eleven years old. “I think it is important to remember where you come from to appreciate the present and know where you want. I am very grateful to my family, because I owe everything I have achieved”said Lopez to the “Marca”. Even today, she often celebrates goals or success on the soccer field with fingers stretched up and a view of the sky.
Vicky Lopez is also on the pitch in her mind with her late mother.
I owe everything to my family.
Only EM titles of women are still missing Spain
After two lost European Championship end games with the U17 national team 2022 and 2023, Lopez’s goal is not difficult to guess when they participate in the first European Championship with the A national team: the title should be made. Incidentally, Spain would close one last gap, because all other titles to be awarded at European level have already won Spanish U and A national teams at least once.