The new year has brought many surprises in the return of the Liga F. Granada CF have found victory again, Levante beat Villarreal and Barça scored nine goals against Levante Las Planas. The day was full of goals and Atleti didn’t want to be less. The ‘colchoneras’ beat Valencia 1-6 with a stellar performance by Sheila Guijarro and Eva Navarro.
The golden duo of Atleti:
Atlético de Madrid is one of the most successful teams in the history of Spanish women’s football. A few years ago, domestic titles were hotly contested between the colchoneras and FC Barcelona, where for several seasons they shared the honours. However, the departures of the red and white team and the restructuring of the squad have led to a drop in the level of the team.
During the last two summer transfer windows, Atleti have been on the move and have signed a lot of young Spanish talent. With this type of player, patience is needed in the adaptation process, as inexperience can play a key role. One of the most promising signings is Eva Navarro. The Spain international and recent World Cup winner joined ‘The Red and Whites’ in 2022 and is improving with every game.
The player from Murcia arrived from Levante at just 21 years of age and after two cruciate ligament injuries. Her signing was a real gamble on the part of Atlético de Madrid, as it was unknown whether she would return to her best level. In December 2022, she felt like a player again with the red-and-whites after making her debut and scoring her first goal as a Colchonera. From then on, the striker began to take on more and more roles in the team coached by Manolo Cano.
Eva Navarro doesn’t seem to like easy goals. The player from Murcia is used to turning impossible balls into works of art and lately it has become a habit. Not only does she do it with Atleti, but it is becoming more and more common for her to do it with Spain. Confidence has been key to her becoming the player she was destined to become: one of the best talents on the national scene.
Her personality, her cheek on the ball, speed, one-on-one and striking are some of the characteristics that make Eva Navarro a different player. She is a player who knows how to break up games on the wing in a very intelligent way and is a real problem for opposing defences.
He may not be an undisputed starter for Spain under either Jorge Vilda or Montse Tomé, but he always gets the minutes he is allowed to play. He knows how to revolutionise games to perfection by coming off the bench and if he is given confidence he will respond. In the World Cup that Spain won, she went from strength to strength, practically becoming Spain’s twelfth player.
And she didn’t just win the World Cup last season. As a ‘rojiblanca’, she won the Queen’s Cup after an epic comeback in the final against Real Madrid in a penalty shoot-out. In fact, Eva Navarro was in charge of taking the winning penalty, which showed that she isn’t afraid of the big games.
This season, she already has five assists and three goals in the eleven games she has played in LaLiga, one this week against Valencia. With the national team, she has also accumulated four assists and a goal since the World Cup.
Another of the players who is getting people talking is Sheila Guijarro. For many, she will be a discovery, but this player has been struggling in the shadows for years with very good performances. The attacker arrived this summer from Villarreal and her adaptation has been immediate. She scored two goals in her first game for the Madrid side and, so far, has been a key player in Atleti’s attack.
She kicked off 2024 with a hat-trick to secure the colchoneras’ first win of the year. These four goals made Sheila Guijarro the top scorer in Liga F (11 goals) with one more goal than Graham Hansen (Barça). At 27 years of age, the Valencian is proving that goals are in her blood.
The Valencian is just two goals away from equalling the record she achieved last season with the Yellow Submarine. However, her beginnings in football weren’t easy. Sheila grew up in the Levante youth academy and made her first-team debut in 2012, but did not establish herself in the first team until 2014. Three seasons later, she moved to Málaga, in the second division, in search of playing time. He needed just one year on the Costa del Sol to join Villarreal.
In recent years, Atleti had been lacking a striker who knew how to link up with others and take advantage of opportunities. Sheila Guijarro is so complete that she does a good job with and without the ball. Without a doubt, the signing of Sheila Guijarro is the one who has given the best performance in recent years to ‘The Colchoneras’.
The Atlético de Madrid striker has earned her chance with Spain by scoring goals. Sheila has never worn the senior national team jersey and it’s hard to understand. The Valencian has earned a chance in Montse Tomé’s squad. Spain’s next call-up will be for the Nations League finals and it seems that it will be very difficult for her to make her debut in this list, as the coach seems to be opting for players from previous call-ups.
Atleti is in a very nice moment and enjoys the performances of Sheila Guijarro and Eva Navarro to dream again if they return to the Champions League. ‘The Red and Whites’ are fourth with 29 points and are only one point behind Real Madrid and Levante. The colchoneras must take good care of their golden duo because they are the present and future of Spanish football.
Translated by Marcos Rodríguez.
Main image: @AtletiFemenino.
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