Lucy Bronze’s Euro 2025 heroics: Which other players played on with serious injuries? | OneFootball

Lucy Bronze remarkably revealed after the Lionesses’ European Championship final win that she had played the entire tournament with a fractured leg.

Bronze, 33, was England’s oldest player at the tournament but played the fourth most minutes in the squad. That stat is made even more impressive but the fact she was carrying an injury the entire time.

The defender revealed her injury post-game: “I actually played the whole tournament with a fractured tibia, but no-one knew.”

“The whole team has a great mentality but she has a crazy mentality, it’s unbelievable,” her manager Sarina Wiegman said.

The right-back is not the only player to have played through injury, however. Here are some other famous examples.

Cesc Fabregas

Fabregas broke his leg playing for Arsenal against Barcelona in the 2010 Champions League quarter-final first-leg. Barcelona were winning 2-1 when Fabregas won and scored a penalty with five minutes remaining. He picked up ball after dispatching his spot-kick and ran back to the half-way line, but on his way back he collapsed and was substituted. He was pictured in crutches after the game.

Post-game he said: “My leg is broken – and I feel broken too. The penalty I scored against Barcelona could be my last act as an Arsenal player this season… when Carles Puyol fouled me to concede the penalty all I could think about was to grab the ball put it on the penalty spot and hit it as hard as I could.

“The adrenaline must have been flowing through me so strongly because I didn’t feel any pain as I smashed the ball past Victor Valdes. But as soon as I ran to collect the ball to take it back to the centre-spot I was in agony.

“Some people think I may have even broken the leg against Birmingham a week earlier – and, to be honest, I just don’t know.”

Samuel Umtiti

In December of 2017, Umtiti found out he was suffering from chondropathy, a degenerative condition of the knee cartilage. He chose not to undergo surgery before or during the 2018 World Cup and instead received conservative treatment (injections, rest, etc.), allowing him to play in Russia and help France win the tournament.

Umtiti was a key player in the competition but aggravated the injury during the tournament and did not rest adequately after the tournament, leading to further degeneration.

His career spiralled downwards after that point, and he never managed to recover to the levels he previously showed. He was playing for Barcelona at the time, but left in 2022 after only playing 51 games in four seasons after the World Cup.

He spent a season playing for Lecce in 2022/23, and then Lille in 2023/24, but has been a free agent ever since. At the young age of 31, it seems his career is over.

He does however retain respect for his heroic efforts during the tournament, and speaking six years after the event, France manager Didier Deschamps said: “The only thing that I have to say to him (Umtiti) is thank you for everything you did for the national team. If we are world champions, we have to say thanks to him. Because after that he had difficult years, difficult seasons, and he didn’t play like he wanted.”

Stuart Pearce

Pearce broke his foot in 1999 playing for West Ham against Watford. He went in for a strong challenge against Micah Hyde in the first half and came out of it rather worse for wear, but tried to get through until half-time.

Pearce thought it was a normal challenge he’d be able to see off, but it turned out he had in fact broken his leg.

He said: “I went in for a challenge and I thought my shin pad had cracked, because I had heard a cracking noise. But it was my bone, rather than my shin pad.”

West Ham manager at the time Harry Redknapp said: “He put his boot back on (at half-time) and said ‘I’ll give it a go. But even he can’t run off such a bad injury.”

Bert Trautmann

Trautmann was playing for Manchester City as goalkeeper against Birmingham in the 1956 FA Cup final, when he collided with a player in 73rd minute. The collision left him dazed and in pain, but substitutions were not allowed at this point so he had to stay on.

City ended up winning the game 3-1, and the German even made several crucial saves towards the end of the game. He was in so much pain from the injury that he could barely lift the trophy in the post-game celebrations.

Three days later, X-rays revealed he had dislocated five vertebrae, and one was cracked in two. The second vertebra had wedged against the third, stopping it from severing his spinal cord — which would likely have killed or paralysed him.