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.
— Selección Española Femenina de Fútbol (@SEFutbolFem)