Lucy Bronze injury: Lioness and Barcelona defender undergoes surgery - will she make FIFA World Cup?

The 31-year-old Barcelona and England defender Lucy Bronze has recently undergone knee surgery after she was seen limping off the pitch during the UEFA Champions League first leg semi-final against Chelsea on Saturday.

The right-back will miss the return leg at the Nou Camp this Thursday but her manager Jonatan Gilardez has, somewhat optimistically, said she should only be out of action for “a couple of weeks.”

Bronze’s injury is now another additional worry for England manager Sarina Wiegman as the list of Lioness concerns ahead of this summer’s World Cup appears to be growing somewhat exponentially at the moment. Arsenal defender and England captain Leah Williamson recently confirmed she had ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament which will see her sidelined for around nine months while fellow Gunners’ teammate Beth Mead is coming to the end of her ACL recovery.

Mead, who was named Player of the Tournament and picked up the Golden Boot award in last year’s Euros, has been out since November and is likely to come second in the race against time to make it to this year’s World Cup.

Chelsea teammates Fran Kirby and Millie Bright are the two other worries for the Dutch manager. Bright has been expected to return but was recently seen still on crutches while there has been little updates on the attacking midfielder, leading fans to suspect she may not make this summer’s FIFA tournament.

What’s been said?

Taking to Instagram, Lucy Bronze posted “Successful surgery! In very good spirits after my knee op yesterday. It’s never easy being sidelined, but I’m as focused as ever to work hard and return to full fitness, hopefully as soon as possible.

“Thank you to everyone for all of your kind messages already! I couldn’t ask for better support, so thank you. The hard work has alreday started, already can’t wait to be back on the pitch with this team. See you all very soon!”

Will Lucy Bronze make the World Cup?

The main concern for any Lioness fan will be whether the 31-year-old will be present in Australia and New Zealand in July. There has been no exact return date mentionned for Bronze but given the nature of the injury and surgery, it is imagined she will be back on the pitch within a month.

Barca have said in a tweet, however, that her return to action depends on the speed of her progress during rehabilitation. Giraldez initially played down the injury following his team’s win over the Blues on Saturday, saying the defender was “fine” despite her going down off the ball in the 66th minute.

Bronze has had several serious knee injuries during her playing career and had to have an operation in the early stages. The right-back played in all six of England’s games in their Euros victory and was named in the 2019 Women’s World Cup team of the tournament.

When is the FIFA World Cup?

The women’s world cup will begin on Thursday 20 July and England’s first fixture will take place on Saturday 22 July as they take on Haiti. England will then take on Denmark and China in their group stages in a bid to reach the last 16.