Lucy Bronze reveals she played with fractured tibia throughout Euro 2025 | OneFootball

Lucy Bronze revealed after England’s Euro 2025 final victory against Spain that she had played the whole tournament with a fractured tibia.

The right-back, who went off during half-time of extra time of the final because of an injury to her right knee, said she had played all six matches at the tournament with a fractured tibia in her left leg and described it as “very painful”.

Bronze had grabbed attention during the quarter-final win against Sweden for strapping her own thigh deep into extra time before taking off the strapping and scoring a powerful penalty in the shootout.

The 33-year-old – one of whose middle names is Tough – had her right leg heavily strapped as England celebrated retaining the European Championship title in Basel but told the BBC when asked about that: “I’ve actually played the whole tournament with a fractured tibia but no one knew and then I’ve hurt my knee today on the other leg.

“I think that’s why I got a lot of praise from the girls after the Sweden game – because I’ve been through a lot of pain. But that’s what it takes to play for England. That’s what I’ll do. They know that and I think we inspire each other by playing through things like that and it got us to the end.”

Bronze said the two injuries would not hold her back when England continue their celebrations behind closed doors before flying home on Monday and heading on Tuesday to a public celebration event in central London. “I’m going to party, I’m going to enjoy it and that’s it.”

For Chloe Kelly, scoring the winning spot-kick capped an astonishing transformation in her fortunes since January, when her career appeared to be in the doldrums. Not in Manchester City’s plans, she expressed her frustration in public to help force through a deadline-day loan to Arsenal. She went on to help Arsenal win the Champions League before her starring role in Switzerland for England and said: “There were a lot of tears at full-time, especially when I saw my family, because those were the people that got me through those tough, dark moments.

“If that’s a story to tell, [for] someone that maybe experiences something the same: tough times don’t last. Just around the corner was a Champions League final, won that. Then a Euros final, won that. Thank you to everyone that wrote me off, I’m grateful.”

Kelly also thanked Sarina Wiegman for believing in her: “She’s bloody amazing. She’s an incredible woman; what she’s done for this country, we should all be so grateful for. What she’s done for me individually, she gave me hope when I probably didn’t have any.

“She gave me an opportunity to represent my country again. I knew that I had to get game time and representing England is never a given. But what she’s done for the women’s game, not just in England, in the Netherlands she’s done it, she’s taken it to a whole other level.”

Wiegman, who has won this title three times in a row since 2017, said in her press conference that England’s multiple comeback victories meant this was “the most chaotic and ridiculous tournament we have played”. The manager said: “I’m very happy. I actually can’t believe it myself. How can this happen? But it happened. I’m so incredibly proud of the team and the staff. We’re just going to party tonight!”

The Dutchwoman had earlier told the BBC: “The word ‘team’ really described who we are – a team. We said we can win by any means and that’s what we have shown again today … From the first game it was chaos. Losing your first game and becoming European champions is incredible. Football is chaos.”

Bronze, who made her 36th appearance at a major tournament for the Lionesses, surpassing Jill Scott’s record, also hailed the team’s togetherness, saying: “We’ve shown everyone to believe in yourself no matter what other people say about you and to believe in the people who give you that support.”

Shortly after Kelly’s winning penalty secured the successful defence of the Lionesses’ European crown, the Football Association announced that the victory – in a fifth major senior final for the England men’s or women’s teams since 2021 – would be celebrated with a homecoming event. Wiegman and her team will have an open-top bus procession along the Mall from 12.10pm, culminating in a staged ceremony in front of Buckingham Palace starting at about 12.30pm, which will be free for fans to attend.

“It’s going to be crazy,” Kelly said. “I hope the whole of England comes out to support us and shows the love to all these girls because they deserve it.”

The Spain coach, Montse Tomé, felt her team had been the better side saying: “I think this team deserved more. I feel we worked hard during a long time to reach this moment, to reach this final against a high-level national team as England, and what we saw during the game makes me feel that the team deserved having more, not leaving with this bitter feeling. This is sport. You must know how to lose and today we missed the penalties. I think we were better but football is a sport where not always the best team wins. England is an excellent national team.”

Header image: [Photograph: Allstar Picture Library Ltd/Richard Sellers/Apl/Sportsphoto]