If you ever thought the false nine was an invention exclusive to the men’s game, Spanish women’s football will prove you wrong. The position — occupied in theory by a striker who in practice becomes an attacking midfielder — has become a recurring resource in the country’s two most powerful projects, FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team, and has left a tactical imprint that deserves to be told.
What is a false nine?
In the language of football, the false nine is a striker who does not behave like one. She does not station herself between the centre-backs waiting for crosses, nor does she pin the opposition’s last line. She prefers to appear and disappear, dropping into creative zones, drawing markers and freeing up space for her teammates. Her job is not so much to finish as to make others finish. It demands vision, technique and the ability to combine. Pep Guardiola popularised the figure with Lionel Messi; since then it has entered the manual of many a coach.
In Spanish women’s football, the absence of out-and-out strikers at certain moments and the abundance of creative midfielders have opened the door to this variant. The evolution of FC Barcelona after Jenni Hermoso’s departure is the best example.
From Hermoso to Pajor: Barça’s search for a nine
When Jenni Hermoso left the club in 2022 as Barça’s all-time top scorer, with 181 goals, the team was left without a reference point up front. For two seasons, Jonatan Giráldez improvised. In the 2024 Champions League final, played at San Mamés, the coach left Ona Batlle on the bench and went with Mariona Caldentey as a false nine. The Mallorcan moved “with freedom across the whole attacking front”, confusing the Lyon defence and making it easier for Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Putellas to find the spaces where they settled the title.
She was not the only one. In earlier matches, Alexia Putellas and Salma Paralluelo had been tried in the role, with varying success. A piece by Iniestazo recalled that Alexia’s conversion into a false nine became “one of the most dangerous weapons” in Giráldez’s armoury. The captain, more accustomed to orchestrating than finishing, brought composure and vision between the lines; Salma, for her part, offered pace and penetration. According to El País, after Hermoso’s departure “many players have occupied the position temporarily, many as a false nine: Salma Paralluelo, Mariona Caldentey or even Alexia Putellas”.
The experiment had an expiry date. In the summer of 2024 the Polish striker Ewa Pajor arrived, top scorer in her first season. Her signing closed the debate in the box and allowed the hybrids to return to their natural habitat. The story shows, nevertheless, that Barça learned to survive without a classic nine and discovered nuances that enriched their game.
The false nine that did not work at Real Madrid
The device does not always come off. In August 2025, during a pre-season match against Bayern Munich, Pau Quesada’s Real Madrid sprang a surprise by lining up Athenea del Castillo as a false nine. The experiment failed: according to AS’s match report, the Cantabrian never quite connected and the team showed few ideas in attack. Bayern won 4-1 and made it plain that not every winger can be turned overnight into a hybrid striker. The episode served as a reminder: the false nine demands specific traits — play between the lines, patience, a reading of space — that cannot be improvised.
La Roja and the striker debate
Barça were not the only ones to experiment. In April 2025, in the Nations League, the Spanish national team travelled to Porto to face Portugal under Montse Tomé. The head coach fielded Alexia Putellas, Patri Guijarro, Clàudia Pina and Salma Paralluelo, the latter as a false nine. Spain won 2-4, but the approach left doubts. In the build-up, AS warned that playing without an out-and-out striker “grated”, and there was talk of handing the reference role to Esther González or Macarena Portales. Esther’s entrance from the bench ended up sealing the scoreline.
Shortly afterwards, the La Roja dugout changed hands and Sonia Bermúdez took charge. In the semi-finals of the 2025/26 Women’s Nations League, the new head coach deployed Clàudia Pina as a false nine and Spain thrashed Sweden 4-0. Bermúdez publicly praised her performance: “Pina can play as a winger, an interior midfielder or a striker… I see her as a false nine, she is a player with a great goalscoring capacity.” In the build-up to the final against Germany, the specialist press noted that one of the dilemmas was whether to keep Pina as a false nine or go with Esther. The conversation repeats itself: creativity versus a classic nine.
Beyond the box: profiles and nuances
The false nine in the women’s game is not an emergency measure, but a reading of the characteristics of Spanish footballers. Mariona Caldentey offers control and the final pass; Alexia Putellas adds composure and late runs; Salma Paralluelo intimidates with her stride; Clàudia Pina combines arrival in the box with link-up play. All of them are, technically, players from midfield forwards, and their move to the front line reflects the abundance of talent in the creative zone and the scarcity of top-level out-and-out strikers at certain stages.
Moreover, the choice adapts to the opponent and the circumstances. In the 2024 Champions League, Giráldez used Mariona to drag Lyon’s centre-backs out of position; in the Nations League, Bermúdez sought superiority in midfield with Pina; in pre-season, Quesada tried to surprise Bayern with Athenea. The results were mixed, which shows that the concept is not a magic potion but one more tool on the tactical board.
The future, or an occasional resource?
The arrival of strikers such as Pajor at Barça and the rise of centre-forwards such as Esther González and Cristina Martín-Prieto in the national team suggest that the false nine will remain an option rather than the norm. In the short term, Barça have recovered a dominant figure in the box and the national team seem more comfortable with a fixed reference point. In the medium term, the development of new strikers in the Spanish academy system could further reduce the reliance on make-believe nines.
The experience of these last few years shows, however, that the false nine already speaks in the feminine and that Spanish players have enriched the concept. When injuries, generational transitions or tactical needs demand it, coaches will not hesitate to reach for that wildcard again. Because in football, as in life, absences sometimes force you to invent new paths.
