“It’s very painful,” Lucy Bronze offered up as her attempt to add the Understatement of the Year award to her European Championship winner’s medals. After a gruelling tournament ended with euphoria, the England defender could finally admit that she had been playing with a fractured left tibia. Apart from the odd grimace in matches and the need for medical treatment, no one would have known the right-back was carrying the injury. Was it worth it? “Absolutely,” Bronze said.
Winning major honours is hard enough but doing so with only one fully functioning leg adds a level of extremity that would break the vast majority of sportspeople. Nor is Bronze the sort of player who breezes through matches, hiding from view; she is a marauding full-back, committed to every challenge, unwilling to show any weakness as she gets up and down the pitch to wreak havoc on opponents, whether defending or attacking.
