England have sent their best wishes to the Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmatí for a speedy recovery in time for the European Championship after the Ballon d’Or winner was admitted to hospital with viral meningitis.
The head coach, Sarina Wiegman, whose Lionesses side were beaten by Spain in the 2023 World Cup final, hopes the Barcelona player can recover in time for the finals in Switzerland, which get under way on Wednesday.
Wiegman said: “First of all I hope she’s all right and I hope she recovers well and that she can come back with the team and play, because everyone wants to see players like Bonmati [at the Euros].
“You want the best players from Europe being involved in tournaments, because that’s exciting, that’s what people come to watch – the best players from Europe. So I hope she will be involved and that she will get better soon.”
The England defender Jess Carter echoed Wiegman’s sentiments, adding: “Obviously it’s really sad hearing of anyone becoming unwell, and we all just want her to get better soon and [we] wish her all the best. And then hopefully after recovering, she gets to the tournament and continues to put on the performances that she does.”
Speaking to the media after Spain’s 3-1 defeat of Japan in a pre-tournament friendly, Montse Tomé, their coach, said “we can’t talk about deadlines” for the influential Barcelona midfielder’s return, after Bonmatí posted a photograph of her watching the match from a hospital bed with a cannula in her arm on Friday.
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“The doctors say that it is controlled, talking about meningitis can be scary but it is controlled,” said Tomé. “Aitana will be admitted and there are no deadlines yet to know for how long.”
The Spanish football federation had said that Bonmatí had been undergoing medical tests after suffering from a fever. According to reports in Spain, the fever failed to subside and so more extensive tests were carried out which confirmed she has viral meningitis, an inflammation of the protective membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Viral meningitis is caused by an infection and is the more common version of the disease, as opposed to bacterial meningitis. According to the NHS, viral meningitis tends to get better on its own within seven to 10 days.
Spain begin their Euro 2025 campaign in six days’ time, when they play Portugal on 3 July. They then play Belgium on 7 July and Italy on 11 July.
Bonmatí was named the winner of the Ballon d’Or for a second consecutive time in October, receiving almost double the votes of her closest rival for the award, Caroline Graham Hansen. The midfielder was critical to Spain’s Women’s World Cup triumph in 2023 and secured a sixth league title and fifth Supacopa de España this season, but was denied a fourth Champions League title by Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat of Barcelona in last month’s final.
“Aitana, for us, is a very important player, we will wait for her as long as we can,” said Tomé. “The information I have told you is what I have and I am not going to explain more, if I said something more I would be wrong.”
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