July 06, (THEWILL) – Patri Guijarro, a teammate of Alexia Putellas, believes that the presence of the Ballon d’Or winner at Spain’s matches will inspire them to compete well at the Women’s Euros, even if Putellas will not feature.
An anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) damage suffered in training on Tuesday, will prevent Putellas, who has scored 27 goals in 100 international games, from participating in Euro 2022. Spain would be greatly affected by Putellas’ absence because the 28-year-old is one of the best players in women’s soccer and led all scorers with 11 goals in the Women’s Champions League last season.
But Guijarro, a member of the unbeatable Barcelona squad that won every one of its 30 domestic league matches in 2021–22, asserts that Putellas’ mere presence will benefit Spain. She said: “We are not going to deny that yesterday it was a really hard day. It hit us, because we know that Alexia is fundamental inside of the pitch, as is shown, but also outside of it. Obviously we will be very close to cheer her up, to give her energy, to motivate her in any sense, but she has been the first one motivating us.
“She was here today and will be present in our first match. This will give us even more energy to compete and to win. Regarding the roles, as [fellow forward] Mariona [Caldentey] said, we all have to accept our responsibility to try to replace her between all of us, all the good things that she makes, with a plus from everyone.”
Spain’s record-setting goal scorer Jennifer Hermoso is also sidelined with a ligament injury as they open Group B play against Finland on Friday.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
