Alexia Putellas: 'The cruciate, the meniscus: you've closed that cycle. Done. I felt free'

'It wasn’t my knee that hurt, it was my soul,' she says, but now she's back. There's a light in Alexia Putellas’s eyes. 'You know that feeling, that sense of security when you're capable of anything?' the two-time Ballon d'Or winner says, leaning forward on a sofa at Spain’s Las Rozas HQ.

'At that moment, I felt it. And now I’ve got that feeling again. I’m happy; the desire for these Euros is huge. I can’t wait to start and give my all.' And Alexia Putellas’s all is everything.

This is her third Euros – she scored a 94th-minute winner against England on her competitive debut in 2013, at age 19, though she doesn't remember if she was credited with the goal – showing how far she's come. Not just since 2013, but since last time too. This Euros in Switzerland is a redemption, reclaiming her place after an injury robbed her of Euro 2022, a torn cruciate at Bisham Abbey just a day before it started.

The Spanish women's football team will face the Portuguese women's team.