Bonmati's incredible form in the 2022-23 season helped Barcelona to a magnificent treble, recording a competition-leading 12 goal involvements as the Blaugrana claimed Champions League glory, before she also played a major role in Australia and New Zealand as her national team Spain won the Women's World Cup for the first time.
Bonmati was given the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player, and the midfielder is the favourite to collect more individual silverware in the near future having been named among the nominees to pick up the Ballon d'Or, the winner of which will be announced at a ceremony in Paris in late October.
Pauleta fully expects Bonmati to be named the 2022-23 season's best player, pointing to Zidane, the winner of the men's Ballon d'Or in 1998, as a star Bonmati shares traits with.
When asked who she thought should claim the trophy, Pauleta told Stats Perform at the Thinking Football Summit: "I say Aitana [Bonmati] because she had an incredible season with Barcelona and Spain.
"I played against her in the Champions League. I felt something about [Zinedine] Zidane in her game. She's aggressive but with the ball, she's so sweet. She always puts the ball where it needs to be.
"The game is better when she is playing. She has this quality that makes her play beautifully."
Among the other nominees competing with Bonmati is Mary Earps, the Manchester United and England goalkeeper who won the Golden Glove at the World Cup as the tournament's best shot-stopper, saving a penalty from Bonmati's Spain team-mate Jennifer Hermoso in the final.
Prior to her heroics with the Lionesses, Earps had helped United to a strong Women's Super League campaign as well as the club's first-ever FA Cup final.
Fellow goalkeeper Patricia Morais believes Earps should become the first Ballon d'or winner from their position, saying: "I think it will be the England goalkeeper [Earps], for sure. I have no doubt that she will win.
"She's a world-class goalkeeper. She deserves it because I like her style, how she plays football and I identify myself with her."
Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas were both on target in the second half, as Barca beat Lyon for the first time and won the Champions League for a third season out of the last four.
Ada Hegerberg, the all-time leading scorer in the Women's Champions League, headed over from Lyon's best chance as the eight-time European champions offered little apart from that.
A disappointed Van de Donk offered an honest appraisal after the 2-0 defeat, telling DAZN: "I'm very emotional. Nobody likes to lose a final and we were here to win it.
"It's a shame we didn't create enough. Barcelona deserved the win but I'm proud of my team, we gave it our all."
Van de Donk and Lindsey Horan found space tough to come by against an impressive Barca, with the Lyon midfielder admitting there could have been a change to the game plan.
"I play more as a 10 and Lindsey a bit more as a six," she added. "We were a bit low in the midfield so couldn't get the press right and that is usually our strength.
"Credit to Barcelona, they did amazing. I wish we could have pressed them a bit more, I think that could have made a difference."
Bonmati played a key role in helping Barcelona become the first team to win three domestic trophies and the European crown in a single season, since the rebranding of the Women's Champions League.
Jonatan Giraldez's side have scored 129 goals in Liga F this season, winning 27 of their 28 games and drawing the other, conceding just nine times.
To further their celebrations, Barcelona also finally ended their struggles against Lyon.
"It's the first time we've beaten Lyon, I'm proud of the team, and we know that with these fans we have, we can't fail," Bonmati told DAZN.
"It's incredible what we're living through as a team, I'm so lucky... to see we're creating that for so many people and the historic amount of fans we've brought.
"It's the proudest I've felt, I wouldn't change it for anything."
Both teams had won every match en route to a highly anticipated decider at England's national stadium in front of a record crowd for a European Championship match, with 87,192 in attendance.
An extra-time winner from Chloe Kelly proved the difference as the Lionesses claimed their first major title, dealing rivals Germany their first defeat in nine Women's Euros finals.
Beth Mead was forced off in the final but had still done enough to be named player of the tournament, also edging the top scorer award on assists ahead of Alexandra Popp – who missed the match following an injury in the warm-up.
Yet there was room for both superstar performers in the official team of the tournament.
Mead was among four England players, with goalkeeper Mary Earps, captain Leah Williamson and midfielder pass master Keira Walsh each also recognised.
Meanwhile, Germany had five players included; along with Popp, defenders Giulia Gwinn and Martina Hegering made the cut, as did young player of the tournament Lena Oberdorf.
Next to Mead and Popp in the front three was Klara Buhl, even though coronavirus kept her out of both the semi-finals and the final.
France were beaten by Germany in the last four and were represented by defender Sakina Karchaoui, while Spain lost to both finalists but still had Aitana Bonmati make the XI.
Women's Euro 2022 team of the tournament:
Mary Earps (England); Giulia Gwinn (Germany), Leah Williamson (England), Martina Hegering (Germany), Sakina Karchaoui (France); Keira Walsh (England), Lena Oberdorf (Germany), Aitana Bonmati (Spain); Beth Mead (England), Alexandra Popp (Germany), Klara Buhl (Germany).
La Roja beat Denmark 1-0 at the Brentford Community Stadium on Saturday through a late Marta Cardona goal to set up a last-eight showdown with a much-fancied England side on Wednesday.
England won all three of their group matches, scoring 14 times and conceding none, while they have netted at an average of 5.8 goals per game in their 17 matches under Sarina Wiegman (98 goals in total).
Just as remarkably, the Lionesses have conceded just three goals across those 17 games under Wiegman and never more than once in a single contest, keeping 14 clean sheets in the process.
Spain are ranked one place above England in the latest FIFA rankings, however, and Bonmati does not see any reason for her side to fear the rampant hosts in Brighton next week.
"It's motivating," said Bonmati, who plies her club trade for Barcelona. "I'm not scared and I think my team-mates aren't scared either.
"We played against England in the Arnold Clark Cup. We know that they are a good team and they have had many good performances.
"We have seen their three group games and they did very well. But we think we can beat them if we improve our style and play better [than against Denmark]."
England and Spain have faced each other on 15 previous occasions, with the Lionesses (six) winning twice as many games as La Roja (three) across all their meetings.
However, Spain are unbeaten in the past two of those meetings, beating England 1-0 in the SheBelieves Cup in 2020 (1-0) and drawing 0-0 against them in the Arnold Clark Cup in February.
Only once previously have Spain gone three in a row without defeat against England, doing so between 1993 and 1996 (four games).
Echoing the views of team-mate Bonmati, Ona Batlle is optimistic of advancing to the semi-finals, where a showdown with one of Sweden or the Netherlands may await.
"We've seen a lot of their games and I think they play really well, really good. They have a really good squad and it is not just the starting players. Everyone there is a good player," she said.
"They are very strong and they are playing in England, so they have that [home advantage]. But that's going to be a boost for us because we know everything [about them] and we are ready for them. I think we can do it."
