Gili on Spain's Women's U17 finals
Saturday, June 1, 2013
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This month Spain will bid to equal Germany's tally of three Women's U17 titles and Gema Gili, part of the 2010 and 2011 wins, talks UEFA.com through the three finals she played in.
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This month Spain will attempt to equal Germany's tally of three UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship wins – and Gema Gili has plenty of experience of that.
Now in the U19 squad, Gili took part in three U17 final tournaments in Nyon – each time making the final. The FC Barcelona midfielder looked back at those three deciders for UEFA.com as her successors limber up to face Sweden in this season's semi-finals on 25 June.
2009: Lost 7-0 to Germany
It was the first EURO I took part in. It was an incredible experience for me, apart from losing the final to Germany. But I learned a lot in this final, because you learn how to compete, how to fight, how to learn from players who know how to play better football than you. And you learn from your mistakes, trying not to repeat them. And you also learn from defeats like the one in the final.
2010: Won 4-1 on penalties against the Republic of Ireland
Having not won it the year before, now we were champions and also I managed to win the domestic league. It was one of the nicest moments I have experienced on the football field.
2011: Won 1-0 against France
(Captain Gili set up last-minute winner for Alba Pomares)
It was a final where, that year, there was no extra time: it went directly to the penalty shoot-out. And we said to ourselves: "No, we don't want it [penalties] again," and that's when we scored the winning goal. I just thought that moment was incredible; it was unreal to win the European Championship again. For me it was like a double dream come true. Another dream came true.
The truth is that the players [born in] 1993 and '94 formed a team that behaved superbly on and off the pitch. It was like a big family. To have team-mates you could rely on during the whole time together, which was a lot of time, and to be a united group of players, that made it all possible on the pitch. And it made this generation so strong.