A heavy blow for world footballer Alexia Putellas: The captain of the Spanish women's national team, opponent of the German team in the preliminary round, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee shortly before the start of the tournament.
This was announced by the Spanish association on Tuesday evening.
The 28-year-old FC Barcelona attacking midfielder was injured in training and is expected to be out for at least six months.
The tournament end for Putellas is only part of their health problem.
The association initially spoke of a sprain and referred to further investigations.
In the evening he circulated a short video showing Putellas on crutches.
The devastating diagnosis followed a little later after tests at the King Edward VII Hospital in London.
Spain is the second German opponent on July 12 in Brentford (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the women’s football championship and on ARD) after the start on Friday against the runners-up Denmark (6 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the women’s football championship and at ZDF).
Putellas' team's first opponent is also outsider Finland in Milton Keynes on Friday.
Record national player Putellas was injured in the final minutes of the unit, Marca said.
AS and Catalan Sport called "alert".
Putellas has not missed a recent 33 caps since May 2019.
Her failure weighs heavily: For many experts, she is still the best player in the world, she should be one of the stars at the European Championship.