Aitana Bonmati, a two-time winner of the Women’s European Football Championship, has been in a hospital with viral meningitis less than a week before the women’s European football championship will begin.
Late on Friday, Montse Tome, Spain’s coach, announced that her star player had a meningitis test positive and had been taken to a hospital in Madrid.
Spain’s squad will make its way to Switzerland for the tournament on Sunday. On Thursday in Bern, it plays Portugal for the first time. At Euro 2025, it will also face Group B countries like Italy and Belgium.
After Bonmati missed Friday’s friendly against Japan in the Spanish capital, when Spain defeated the visitors 3-1, “Aitana is a very important player for us,” Tome said.
Early on Friday, Tome claimed Bonmati started to feel ill and had a fever.
Tome remarked, “She has authorized me to declare that she has viral meningitis.” The doctor tells me that she is under control, but the word is frightening. We’re not sure how long she will stay in the hospital.
The 27-year-old Bonmati has previously won the top individual award for women. The Barcelona player was crucial in Spain’s 2023 World Cup victory.
Barcelona has won three Champions League titles in a row thanks to Bonmati’s vision, dribbling abilities, passing, and goals.
Alexia Putellas, herself a two-time Ballon d’Or winner, and fellow Barcelona midfielder Patricia Guijarro would be under more pressure to take the lead in Spain. Vicky Lopez, 18, replaced Bonmati in the Japanese match.
Putellas injured her ACL three days before the European Championship in 2022, three years ago. Without the country’s top player, Spain was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Source: Aljazeera
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