Arsenal and England women’s national team striker Beth Mead played only three minutes, but it was enough to secure three points. Mead was sidelined for 11 months with an ACL injury.
The Englishman who was awarded as the best player of the previous women’s European football championships Beth Mead returned to the green after an 11-month layoff on Sunday. Mead, who played just three minutes, scored Arsenal’s 2–1 winning goal in the Super League match against Aston Villa.
Mead was injured in November 2022 and had to miss the summer World Cup, where England lost to Spain in the final. Mead suffered from an anterior cruciate ligament injury that plagues women.
Mead was injured in the match against Manchester United in the very last minutes, when the clock was 90+10. In that match ManUn Alessia Russo scored a 3–2 winning goal moments before Mead’s injury.
Mead, who returned in the final moments of the match on Sunday, entered the field to the cheers of more than 35,000 spectators.
– It’s great that I’m fit to play. “Obviously, being injured has been long and challenging, but these fans are incredible,” Mead said For the British Broadcasting Company BBC.
Mead’s return match got the climax it deserved, when Alessia Russo, who was signed to Arsenal in the summer, completed the winning goal from his pass in extra time.
Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall said he was happy for Mead.
– He deserved such a reception (from the audience). He has worked so hard. He has had a difficult year both because of graduation and his mother’s death, Eidevall stated Arsenal website.
You can watch Russo’s goal in the embed below or from this link.
“Star team” in problems from the beginning of the season
Arsenal’s team can be described as a “star team”. Mead, Russo and Leah Williamson. This year, Australia was successful in the World Cup Steph Catley and Caitlin Fordof Ireland Katie McCabe and Sweden Amanda Ilestedt.
However, Arsenal’s season has started with a cough. The team that reached the semi-finals of the Champions League last season didn’t even make it to the group stage, when Arsenal lost to the French Paris FC in the qualifying tournament at the beginning of September.
From the first three rounds of the Superliiga, which started in October, the team has only four points. In the opening round, Arsenal lost a Finnish defender Emma Koiviston represented Liverpool, the match against ManU ended in a draw and the three points came from the victory over Aston Villa.
At the top of the English Super League with seven points are Manchester City, Leicester and Chelsea. Arsenal is in seventh place with four points.