Vivianne Miedema to undergo ACL surgery as Arsenal confirm crushing injury blow

Arsenal have confirmed that striker Vivianne Miedema ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament during their UEFA Women's Champions League match against Lyon at Emirates Stadium.

A statement on the club's official site read: "Viv will undergo surgery in the coming days and will unfortunately be ruled out for an extended period of time. A more detailed timescale will be established once the operation is complete.

"Everyone at Arsenal wishes Viv well in her recovery and will be providing her with all the support she needs to return to action as soon as possible."

The 1-0 defeat was the Gunners ' first in the competition this season but they remain top of their group with 10 points and are through to the last eight. Miedema joins her teammate and partner Beth Mead on the shelf, with the England star having suffered a similar injury during a 3-2 defeat to Manchester United exactly a month ago.

Writing on social media platform twitter, Miedema said she was "absolutely gutted". However, she also joked her and partner Mead at least have "two decent ACLs between us."

"It will be tough with plenty of difficult days," she added. "There will be plenty of crying, which we've had a lot of already, but sadly enough it's part of football.

"I won't be telling you I'll come back stronger or that I'm looking forward to spend the however many months in the gym.

"It was one of those moments, where I knew straight away.

"There's so many things going through your head. I won't be able to help my team anymore this season, no World Cup, surgery and rehab for a long long time."

"I'm lucky enough to have amazing team-mates, friends and family around me and Beth, who can guide me through everything that's coming while only being a couple of weeks ahead of me."

At the end of the first half against Lyon, Miedema fell awkwardly after extending her leg while trying to reach a loose ball, going down under no contact from the opposition. Mead was in the stands watching on Thursday night when Miedema went down and, still on crutches herself, immediately went down to pitchside once it became clear how serious the injury was.

The England star looked visibly distressed when doing so, as did the rest of Miedema's Arsenal colleagues at the time of the incident. Writing on Twitter, Mead wrote: "Stronger Together. So I was given sympathy for 3 weeks and now she has to go get some of her own but we got this, YOU got this.

"2 new signings incoming @VivianneMiedema."

The Netherlands international and WSL all-time leading goalscorer had only recently returned to action after she took some time off to recharge, granted a leave of absence by the club. On her return she produced a stunning run of form, scoring the winning goal in victories over Everton and Juventus.

Miedema then scored in the 4-1 win over Aston Villa in the WSL to make it four goals in as many games, in all competitions. In her social media statement the Dutch international added that she won't be fit for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup next summer in Australia and New Zealand.

It is unknown exactly when Miedema will undergo the surgery. She becomes the latest high-profile women's footballer to suffer an ACL injury with, Mead, West Ham's Jessica Ziu, Aston Villa's Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah and Tottenham duo Kyah Simon and Ellie Brazil also ruled out of action.

Barcelona's Alexia Putellas who claimed the Women's Ballon d'Or this year also suffered an ACL injury in the build up to Euro 2022.

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