After winning the Euros final, Lucy Bronze announced that she had played the whole tournament with a broken Tibia.
She found this out on a whim when England played Portugal at Wembley, and she told the staff that they had an X-ray machine here. So, shall we have a look?
Fast-forward: She sat with The Athletic and spoke about the whole experience.
While everyone went home after the London parade to celebrate England's Euro victory, she went to have a scan.
Sonia Bompastor, Chelsea Women's manager, received the text: “Just to let you know, the leg is broken. I’m going to play the Euros, but I might miss pre-season. I hope that’s OK, Lucy.”
Bompator's response: “Lucy, I would do the same.”
The injury would always hold Lucy back, which is likely why the club signed Ellie Carpenter as Lucy Bronze's backup. And what a fantastic job she has done!
Lucy said, “I knew the injury would hold me back, but I never let myself doubt myself. A lot of players look up to me. If there were a small seed of doubt, they would see it.
The whole time, the players just saw normal, confident Lucy.”
The quarter-finals against Sweden seemed lost until Lucy made it 2-1, Michelle Agyemang made it 2-2, and it went to penalties. Lucy Bronze scored the winning penalty to keep England in with a fighting chance to defend their title.
Bronze said: “It would be such a funny game if we were all mics up. I remember shouting at Hannah Hampton: ‘You need to do it this way and she said: ‘Yeah, I know, I’m trying, I’m just so p***** off!”
She went on to respond with: “Hannah, we’re all f****** p***** off. Just do it.”
After the win, she spoke about how that was the first time she could actually be upset about the feeling of pain. Previously, she kept saying she was fine and that she did not want to cry about her knee or her tibia, which she described as “excruciating.” She kept the mantra of ‘I don’t feel it, it’s not there, keep going.’
The Chelsea player said, “When the celebration was over, I couldn’t hold it. My leg is broken, my knee is in agony, I hurt so much, let me be hurt for a second. It was the first time I thought, ‘What am I doing?”
She had to be substituted off during extra time, and she could not believe she had to give up control. She praised the team, saying she didn’t need her, and that her replacement, Niamh Charles, did amazingly, especially taking a penalty, which Bronze said she wouldn’t be able to take.
On reflection, she was so happy for Niamh and that her being replaced was the right decision, but the defender felt the feeling of letting go of something she was not in control of.
The lionesses said, “I’ve put on a front this whole tournament, worked so hard, and that was the last moment. There’s nothing else I could do. It’s done.”
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