Women´s Euros: Spain´s Putellas suffers ACL injury

Spain’s Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas will not feature in the Women’s Euros after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.

Barcelona captain Putellas finished as the Champions League’s top goalscorer with 11 goals last season, ending her domestic campaign with 18 league strikes.

Putellas, who has scored 27 goals in 100 international appearances and also picked up FIFA’s The Best Women’s Player award in 2021, was expected to provide creativity from out wide for La Roja, but faces a lengthy spell out of action after suffering the injury in training ahead of Spain’s opening game against Finland on Friday.

An update issued on the side’s official website read: “The tests carried out on the Spanish international on the afternoon of this Tuesday, July 5, 2022, at King Edward VII’s hospital in London, have confirmed that the captain of the Spanish women’s national team suffered a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.”

Putellas’ injury is a huge blow for Spain and the tournament as a whole, with the 28-year-old one of the biggest stars of the women’s game.

Spain, whose group also includes Germany and Denmark, were already without their record goalscorer Jennifer Hermoso due to injury.

OFICIAL I Alexia Putellas sufre una rotura del ligamento cruzado anterior de su rodilla izquierda.

https://t.co/lwuEvQm6wC pic.twitter.com/JeYmSRIhmP

— Selección Española Femenina de Fútbol (@SEFutbolFem) July 5, 2022