Estefanía Banini delivered some outstanding performances during the latest Women’s World Cup, helping Argentina a lot from a playmaking and attacking perspective as she was the one making the difference with her impressive dribbles, passing and penetrations, in addition to being incredibly effective against Italy despite her side’s loss; she was also impactful against Sweden and South Africa, against the latter of whom they secured their single point in the group stage.
Despite the negative results, Banini’s performances are worthy of more focus and analysis since she was a special player during the competition and with Atlético Madrid, her club team.
Banini started her career at Colo-Colo in Chile in 2011 before heading to the NWSL to play for Washington Spirit before moving on to Valencia and Levante. At the moment, Banini is approaching the swansong of her career, yet shows more desire to play and win: a great mentality that young generations need to learn from.
This tactical analysis scout report will explore Banini’s abilities and what differentiates her from other players in her role, relying on footage and statistics to have an extensive analysis.
Based on her recent performances, Banini could be helpful to any team in the world for a season or two at least, knowing that she is in excellent physical shape and lacks neither determination nor skills and abilities. Therefore, it would be astonishing if Banini received no tempting offers.
Roles and positions
Building on her latest World Cup performances would mean keeping the same determination and passion for playing and giving more than 100% as she did in that tournament. At the same time, finding a new challenge represents another reason for Banini to give her best and be impactful in a more ambitious project.
This is being said mainly because Banini is a player who has got the personality needed to lead her teammates to glory and to contribute with key performances on big occasions.
In addition, Banini can play in various positions on the pitch and mainly as a left winger, advanced playmaker, or central midfielder. She can be incredibly impactful when positioned on the left wing since she plays with ease on that side, and her duel-winning average increases a lot on that side.
At the same time, playing Banini as an advanced playmaker is never a bad decision since she is good at dribbling in tight areas, being aware of her surroundings, and protecting the ball well with her body.
Dribbling and playmaking skills
Banini is one of the quickest and most intelligent dribblers in the world. Her ability to dribble successfully in tight areas and when no one predicts that she can dribble make her an exceptional player.
Being quick but, at the same time, physically strong helps Banini a lot in such situations; she is smart enough to use this physical advantage in her favour when being put in complicated cases.
One of the most impressive dribbles she produced during the World Cup was her dribble past two Italian defenders in the following action. It was an unpredictable dribble mainly because Banini was looking towards the goal, and her body gave the impression that she would never opt for an external dribble before getting inside the box.
Yet, Banini’s quick decision-making in this regard and pacy acceleration allowed her to surprise everyone, including the Italian defenders, and get past them with ease, creating a hazardous opportunity for her team.
Image credit: Fox Sport
Apart from her excellent dribbling techniques and abilities, Banini showed on numerous occasions that she is a terrific passer, and more importantly, she proved that she is a team player rather than a selfish player. Being a leader can also mean being selfish in some cases.
Banini, however, is a leader who prefers to play for the team and not really for her records only, and that’s why she is more impactful and more important to her team’s tactics. The following goal action can represent a perfect example of Banini’s unselfishness.
She was in a one-on-one situation with the opposing goalkeeper, who dribbled past her and acted like she was about to shoot to confuse a defender.
When she saw that two other defenders were standing on the goal line and that there was a teammate who was a little bit better positioned than herself, she didn’t think twice about passing the ball to her.
This being said, Banini is excellent at scoring goals with different types of shots, especially from that angle. However, she went for the pass, showcasing an essential quality of hers: she is a team player.
When Banini combines dribbling, penetrations, and key passing, she can always cause a lot of trouble to opponents. The following picture highlights this fact as this action against Real Madrid tells us much about the Argentinian’s skills.
She usually has an excellent first touch on the ball and almost always looks towards one direction (the one with the red arrow), then moves towards a different direction (white arrow) using her pace, leaving her opponent behind.
Afterwards, she dribbled past another defender while on the edge of the corner line, still keeping the ball at her feet.
Banini masters this type of dribbling and uses it often, as opponents often think the ball will go out if she attempts such a dribble. Yet, she usually succeeds in keeping the ball in play after dribbling.
On this occasion, she could also provide a beautiful assist to her teammate inside the box, using the exterior part of her foot.
Goalscoring abilities and techniques
In terms of goalscoring, Banini has been able to showcase various shooting throughout her career, as she usually times her shots very well and knows how to finish actions without complicating things.
Indeed, Banini’s shooting statistics of last season do not reflect her abilities in this regard since she shot 1,66 times per match with 40% shots on target.
Nevertheless, we cannot deny that whenever Banini shoots she can create a lot of danger since she either angles her shots very well with finesse or goes for power.
In this example against Real Madrid, Banini didn’t think twice before going for a finesse shot using the exterior part of the foot, which confused the goalkeeper and helped to score a second goal for Atlético Madrid.
Being a left winger means that Banini needs to master the shots from the left when cutting inside, even though not all wingers achieve the mastery of shots from that side.
Banini, however, proved on numerous occasions that she mastered this type of shot and did so during big competitions, under pressure, and in other complex situations, highlighting her powerful personality as a footballer and not just her shooting abilities.
In this goal action, Banini usually puts the right impact on the ball while coordinating her body in the necessary way to curve the ball the way she needs, in addition to putting some power in her shots.
This combination of body coordination, power, and finesse makes Banini’s shots challenging to save, especially when attempted from the left wing after she cuts inside.
However, Banini didn’t showcase her shooting abilities in the best possible way during the World Cup and was more of a playmaker than a player who attempts to shoot a lot. She also wasn’t able to score free kicks when allowed to do so.
This will be something to work on in the near future so that she regains her shooting efficiency and get back to her scoring ways.
Another characteristic distinguishing Banini from other players in her position is her ability to score free kicks from various angles.
Being an excellent set-piece taker adds to Banini’s uniqueness and should be a factor for teams to try recruiting her, knowing that set-piece specialists are few and far between in women’s football.
Certainly, Banini does not score every free-kick either, yet her free-kicks are usually dangerous, and if they are not scored, they often create danger.
Conclusion
It is true that Estefanía Romina Banini currently plays for a big Spanish team in Atlético Madrid. However, following her outstanding performances in the World Cup, the Argentinian player deserves to get a chance to play at an even bigger club and participate in the UEFA Champions League.
Playing in a team like Bayern Munich, Juventus, Lyon, Chelsea, Arsenal, or Manchester City would help inspire Banini with new challenges — and why not change the whole environment, taking on one last major challenge by playing in a different league such as the WSL?
Banini deserves to showcase her talent and expertise to a larger public. And based on her latest performances and form, retirement shouldn’t be considered at the moment, and the priority needs to be on experiencing one last big achievement.
