England defender Lucy Bronze is set to be out “a couple of weeks” after undergoing knee surgery.

The fullback went down in the 65th minute of the first leg of Barcelona’s Champions League semifinal on Saturday. She clutched at her knee before hopping off the field, though she later returned to shake hands with Chelsea’s players after Barcelona’s 1-0 win.

In his post-match comments, Barcelona manager Jonatan Giraldez said Bronze was “feeling much better.”

“Initially Lucy was a bit worried about her injury. She felt her pain in her knee, but now she’s feeling much better about it,” Giraldez said, per SkySports. “She felt pain in the knee but I think she’s fine right now. I was talking to her immediately after the game. It was scary at first but right now I think she’s fine.”

On Wednesday, Giraldez gave an update on Bronze, who has a long history of knee injuries and subsequent surgeries.

“She has lots of experience, the feelings are good with her knee,” he said. “She has a strain, an ailment. It’s a tiny intervention, just a couple of weeks. Lucy has been important for us. We have plenty of players here and I know we have players that can step in.”

In a Twitter post, Bronze called the surgery “successful.”

“In very good spirits after my knee op yesterday,” she wrote. “Thankful for all the kind messages, I couldn’t ask for better support. Currently working hard towards a speedy recovery to get back on the pitch with my team.”

The surgery is reason for concern for England fans as player injuries pile up. Captain Leah Williamson will miss the World Cup after suffering an ACL tear last week. Forward Beth Mead could also miss the tournament while recovering from her own ACL tear, and midfielder Kim Little is currently out with a hamstring injury.

England had its 30-match unbeaten streak snapped in a friendly against Australia earlier this month. Still, the reigning Euro champions remain among the favorites to win this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Alexia Putellas has been named to Barcelona’s roster for the second leg of their Champions League semifinal against Chelsea at home on Thursday. The announcement comes on the same day Putellas was medically cleared to return to play after tearing her ACL last July.

Barcelona took the first leg of the semifinal matchup, 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, and will advance to the final with either a win or a draw.

Putellas hasn’t played since last summer, after tearing her ACL while playing for Spain ahead of the 2022 Women’s Euros.

The Spanish star has been training with the team for the last few weeks. A two-time Ballon d’Or and FIFA Best Player award winner, Putellas is a key player in Barcelona’s midfield, but head coach Jonatan Giraldez would not guarantee her return to game action on Thursday.

“We will not take any risks with Alexia,” said Giraldez in his pre-match press conference. “The priority tomorrow is to qualify for the final. As a coach, I will not take any risk if she is not 100 percent.”

Arsenal were delayed returning from their Champions League semifinal Sunday after their plane burst into flames on the runway at the Braunschweig Wolfsburg Airport in Germany.

Following a 2-2 semifinal draw against Wolfsburg, the Arsenal women’s team was traveling home to England when a bird reportedly flew into the left engine of the team plane during takeoff, causing the fire. The takeoff was halted and the players and support staff were evacuated, the Telegraph reported Monday.

“Our aircraft developed a technical issue prior to take-off in Germany on Sunday evening,” Arsenal said in a statement. “As a result, we remained in Wolfsburg overnight on Sunday before flying back to England on Monday afternoon. We would like to thank the staff onboard the aircraft and on the ground at the airport for their assistance.”

No one was injured in the incident. The team spent the night in a local hotel and flew back to London on Monday.

The second leg of the Champions League semifinal will be played Monday at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. A crowd of nearly 50,000 is expected for the match.

England captain Leah Williamson will miss this summer’s World Cup after rupturing the ACL in her right knee in Arsenal’s match against Manchester United on Wednesday.

The club confirmed the news Thursday.

“Leah will now begin a period of rehabilitation and is set for an extended spell on the sidelines. She will undergo surgery in due course,” the team said in a statement.

“Everyone at Arsenal will be supporting Leah closely throughout the journey ahead and we would ask that her privacy is respected at this time.”

In a statement, Williamson said that while she has “made my peace with it” on the night that it happened, she would “need some quiet” to let the situation sink in.

“Unfortunately, the World Cup and Champions League dream is over for me and everyone will think that’s the main focus, but it’s the day to day of what I’m about to go through that is the most draining of my thoughts,” she wrote. “Ultimately, I think it’s just my time. In the past couple of years alone I have watched teammates beat serious illnesses and adversity with the biggest smiles on their faces.

“I haven’t had a day since last October when I’ve walked on to the pitch without a physical or mental question mark over me, and that’s professional sports. So now I have to listen to my body, give it what it needs and if everything happens for a reason, then we’ll see what road this turn sends me down.”

Williamson fell to the ground in the 12th minute of the 1-0 loss after appearing to catch her studs on the turf. She immediately signaled to the bench for treatment.

While she was able to walk off the pitch on her own, she did have to be helped down the tunnel to the locker room.

After the match, Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall called out the packed calendar and the field conditions as possible contributing factors.

“I think it’s going to continue here with the schedule we have and pitches like that, players are going to get injured,” he said. “That is something that we all need to improve on – the facilities where we play, so we can keep the players on the pitch.”

Williamson isn’t the first Arsenal player to go down with an injury this season. Both Vivianne Miedema and Beth Mead are out with ACL injuries and likely are out of the World Cup, the former for the Netherlands and the latter for England. Kim Little is also out with a hamstring injury.

Arsenal is in the running for the Women’s Super League title and the Champions League title, but the growing injury list presents a problem for the club.

“Nobody wanted to see that,” Manchester United manager Marc Skinner said of Williamson’s injury. “I’ve just seen her inside, she seemed in really high spirits. We obviously wish it’s something minor and just a precaution. We wish her all the best. We all want to see her lead the Lionesses in the summer.”

With the severity of the injury revealed, though, Williamson will be relegated to supporting the national team from the sidelines. The 26-year-old defender played an integral role in leading the team to its first Euros title last July.

England saw its 30-match unbeaten streak snapped in a friendly against Australia earlier this month, but the Lionesses remain among the favorites to win this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Without Williamson, though, their odds likely will take a hit.

Vivianne Miedema has ruptured her ACL, she announced Monday, adding her name to the growing list of top-tier players who have torn knee ligaments.

“Absolutely gutted to share I’ve ruptured my ACL in our last game against Lyon,” Miedema wrote. “It was one of those moments where I knew straight away.”

The striker, who stars for Arsenal and for the Dutch women’s national team, did not provide a firm timeline for her recovery. But she said it would be “a long time” before she would return to the pitch, and she ruled herself out for the 2023 World Cup.

“I won’t be able to help my team anymore this season, no World Cup, surgery and rehab for a long time,” she continued. “I won’t be telling you I’ll come back stronger or that I’m looking forward to spend the next however many months in the gym.

“It will be tough with plenty of difficult days (plenty of crying, which we’ve had a lot of already), but sadly enough it’s part of football.”

Arsenal said in a statement that Miedema will undergo surgery “in the coming days.”

“[She] will unfortunately be ruled out for an extended period of time. A more detailed timescale will be established once the operation is complete,” the Women’s Super League club said. “Everyone at Arsenal wishes Viv well in her recovery and will be providing her with all the support she needs to return to action as soon as possible.”

Miedema joins her girlfriend and Arsenal teammate Beth Mead on the ACL injury list. Miedema suffered her injury last Thursday during Arsenal’s Champions League match against Lyon and had to be stretchered off the field.

With the Dutch star’s injury, 25 percent of the 2022 Ballon d’Or Féminin nominees are sidelined with ACL injuries, including winner Alexia Putellas. The USWNT has also been hit hard by ACL injuries, with both Catarina Macario and Christen Press sidelined.

Miedema is one of the top strikers in the game, having scored 78 goals in 97 league appearances for Arsenal.

She just recently made her return to the field after taking a break in November. Upon her return, she went on a tear, scoring four goals in four games to help Arsenal to second place in the Women’s Super League standings.

Miedema has been vocal in criticizing the packed playing calendar as a contributing factor in the recent rash of injuries. On Saturday, FIFA announced that it will be adding even more to the women’s calendar, introducing a women’s Club World Cup in 2025.

Vivianne Miedema became the latest top women’s soccer player to sustain a knee injury, as the star striker left Arsenal’s Champions League match Thursday on a stretcher.

The 26-year-old went to the turf after she landed awkwardly on her left leg in the first half of the 1-0 loss to Lyon. Before the injury, she had been on a tear, scoring four goals in four matches for the Gunners.

“I have no information at all yet,” Arsenal coach Jonas Eidevall said after the match. “It’s just the concern I have here now after the game, and that’s where a lot of my thoughts are at the moment to be honest.”

The club has not provided further details on the injury. Miedema is set to see a knee specialist for further evaluation.

Miedema had taken a break from the sport in November to rest and recuperate. The Dutch star had credited the step back from the sport with her rejuvenated play since her return.

Also since her return, she had been vocal about the need for rest, for herself and for all athletes.

Miedema contracted COVID-19 this summer, which kept her out of several matches at the Euros tournament. After she returned from COVID-19, she jumped straight into training for the Women’s Super League season.

“I just didn’t feel mentally and physically ready to actually play,” she said. “I think you could see that in the way that I was playing. I didn’t enjoy my football at that moment.”

She called out the packed soccer calendar as a possible contributing factor in player injuries in a column for Dutch newspaper AD in November.

Also in November, U.S. women’s national team fitness coach Dawn Scott raised the alarm over ACL injuries in women’s soccer in particular. Players who have injured their ACLs in 2022 include: USWNT’s Tierna Davidson, Catarina Macario and Christen Press; Germany’s Dzsenifer Marozsán; France’s Marie-Antoinette Katoto; Spain’s Alexia Putellas; Australia’s Ellie Carpenter; Brazil’s Marta; and Denmark’s Nadia Nadim.

Miedema’s Arsenal teammate and girlfriend, Beth Mead, joined that list when she ruptured her ACL in November. She likely will miss the 2023 World Cup as a result.

Vivianne Miedema, a nominee for the Ballon d’Or Féminin this year, criticized the global soccer awards ceremony for its treatment of the women’s game.

The Arsenal and Dutch striker called attention to the disparity between the number of men’s players honored at the event versus the number of women. Of the seven awards handed out at the Ballon d’Or, only one represents women’s soccer. Spain and Barcelona midfielder Alexia Putellas won the award recognizing the best player in the international women’s game in 2022 for the second straight year.

“I didn’t feel appreciated as a woman footballer there,” Miedema told BBC’s “Behind the Goals” podcast. “If they want to have women involved, they have to do it in a different way. They had five or six different awards for the men’s game while the women only have one. If they want to make it equal, they have to give the same awards to men’s and women’s football.”

Miedema attended the event in October with her partner, England striker Beth Mead, who finished as runner-up to Putellas. A photo of the two on the red carpet together circulated after the event with a caption describing Mead as Miedema’s “guest.”

The 26-year-old joked about the mistake on Twitter at the time but said on the podcast this week that it reflected the overall lack of respect for the women athletes.

“Waking up the next morning and that picture pops up, that states the issue we had the night before,” she said. “We’ve got the number two from that year, who should arguably have been number one, turning up to the event as ‘my guest.’ That would obviously never happen if [Lionel] Messi and Neymar had been walking next to each other.

“We obviously joke about it, but that shows there are so many improvements to be made. It needs to be organized so much better.”

Miedema is the all-time leading scorer for the Netherlands across both the men’s and women’s teams. Since returning to Arsenal this season from a mental and physical break, she has scored four goals in four games to lift the Gunners to second place in the WSL table and first place in Group C of the Champions League standings.

Vivianne Miedema is on a hot streak, scoring four times in four games to help move Arsenal into second place in the Women’s Super League standings.

In Sunday’s game against Aston Villa, Miedema scored the team’s second goal in a 4-1 win. Arsenal has 24 points on the season, three behind first-place Chelsea.

The Dutch forward also helped Arsenal beat Juventus last Wednesday, scoring the lone goal of the game. That victory moved Arsenal into first place in Group C of the Champions League standings and one win closer to the knockout rounds of the WCL.

Miedema credits her recent barrage to the extended break she took from the sport in November, which included a trip to Australia. Before her sojourn, she had lost her starting spot to teammate Frida Maanum and hadn’t scored in six appearances.

Since her return, the 26-year-old has been vocal about the need for rest — for herself and for all athletes.

Last Tuesday, Miedema spoke once again about her recovery from COVID-19, which kept her out of several matches at this summer’s Euros tournament and in bed for 10 days with a high fever. She returned for the Netherlands’ final game, playing the full 120 minutes.

After the Euros, training for the WSL season began almost immediately. For Miedema, the schedule meant little rest or recovery.

She spent the beginning of the season “almost on autopilot,” she said, before missing the October international window with an illness.

“I just didn’t feel mentally and physically ready to actually play,” she said ahead of Arsenal’s game against Juventus. “I think you could see that in the way that I was playing. I didn’t enjoy my football at that moment. And I think the moment you start not enjoying it, and start waking up in the morning not wanting to go in, I think that’s the moment that you need to make a switch.”

While in Australia, Miedema was able to get herself fit – something she had been unable to do ahead of the season as she recovered from her bout with COVID-19, she said. The game has once again become “easy” for her, she added.

“I feel physically a lot fitter now, and you have seen that in the recent games,” she said.

Miedema hopes that, by prioritizing her health, she can help encourage other players to take breaks. The recent women’s soccer schedule has not allowed for much time off. And an increase in player injuries – particularly torn ACLs – has been a point of concern for many.

Miedema called the injuries a “worrying pattern” in a column for Dutch newspaper AD. Both Leah Williamson and Rafaelle Souza have just returned from injuries for Arsenal.

Meanwhile, Miedema said in her column that her Arsenal teammate and partner Beth Mead likely will miss next summer’s World Cup for England with a torn ACL. Others who have suffered torn ACLs in 2022 include Alexia Putellas, Christen Press and Catarina Macario.

An increase in the number of international windows, leaving club teams with a limited number of players, also has increased player workloads, Miedema said. Women’s national teams have six international windows, while men’s teams play just four.

“As a player you want to play in the big tournaments, the biggest difference is we have more international windows than the men have,” Miedema said. “We also play the Olympics with our A team instead of the U23s. I think that’s something FIFA and UEFA need to start looking at.

“In women’s football, we also don’t have the same sorts of numbers within a squad. Man City’s men’s team probably has 22, 23 full-time, amazing players. This year, I think we’ve got 18,19 players that are capable of being in the squad for us.”

Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall also has spoken about the issue.

“There is always the balance between freshness and having continuity in the training and playing,” he said in November. “We need to strike that balance.”

The rise in popularity of the women’s game has also shed light on the lack of depth in the player pool. More needs to be done to develop talent and increasing the number of “very good football players,” Eidevall said, including the development of better player academies.

“We cannot only focus on the top of the pyramid,” he continued. “We can have more players that are able to play more games and have a better foundation when they step up to be a professional to handle the demands.”

Women’s soccer continues to break records, with Women’s Super League attendance up 200% compared to last season, per the English Football Association.

A record-breaking total of 47,367 people turned out to watch Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur in September. That game was played at Emirates Stadium, building on an exciting summer for the women’s game in which England won its first Euros title.

The UEFA Women’s Euro tournament broke records as well, with 87,192 fans showing up to Wembley Stadium to watch the final.

On the heels of the tournament, the FA saw the opportunity to bring the WSL to new audiences, said Kelly Simmons, the FA director of the women’s professional game.

“The Lionesses’ victory propelled the women’s game in this country to new levels, and it was important for us to capture and capitalize on that momentum,” she said in a statement.

“It has often been said that a successful women’s England team will help generate interest in the domestic game,” she continued. “This is certainly true, and I have been really overwhelmed by the response we have seen from fans — new and old — in the first half of the season.”

Nearly 300,000 fans have showed up to games across the league, according to Simmons.

“This just highlights how much appetite there is for world-class women’s league football,” she said. “We are currently averaging almost 6,000 fans a week in the Barclays Women’s Super League as we go into the final league fixtures of 2022 — which is up over 200% on this time last year.”

Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea have all played in their men’s team stadiums this season to large crowds. But second-tier Women’s Championship has also seen increased attendance, up 85 percent over last year.

Chelsea leads the WSL with 24 points through nine matches.

Arsenal striker Beth Mead ruptured her ACL in a Women’s Super League match against Manchester United on Saturday, the team announced Tuesday.

The 27-year-old, who helped lead the England women’s national team to the Euros title in July, will spend “an extended period on the sidelines” as a result of the injury, per Arsenal’s statement, with the timeline for recovery to come after she sees a surgeon.

An ACL injury typically requires six to nine months of recovery time.

For example, U.S. women’s national team star Catarina Macario tore her ACL while playing for French club Lyon in June. The 23-year-old is expected to return to the USWNT in February, eight months after her injury, coach Vlatko Andonovski said ahead of the team’s November friendlies.

The 2023 World Cup kicks off July 20 in Australia and New Zealand, almost exactly eight months after Mead’s injury.

Mead excelled for the Lionesses at the Euros, which were held in England in July. She won both the Golden Boot and the Player of the Tournament awards.

She also finished as runner-up for the 2022 Ballon d’Or. Spain’s Alexia Putellas won the prestigious award for the second year in a row — though Putellas is recovering from her own ACL tear in the lead-up to the Euros.

A week before Mead’s injury, she made her 50th career appearance for England in a 4-0 win against Japan. She has scored 29 career goals with the Lionesses.

Mead led Arsenal with four assists and also had scored three goals this season before the injury. The Gunners are in second place in the WSL standings after Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Manchester United, trailing only Chelsea.