Leah Williamson shared the pain of having to witness England lose the 2023 World Cup final to Spain from the stands.

After captaining the side to Euros glory at Wembley, she suffered an ACL injury the following spring, which meant she played no part in the World Cup.

And Williamson has now opened up on that experience, saying: It was awful. Once you’re part of a team, being on the outside, I know how tired you are when you get to that stage and how much a tournament takes out of you – and to be completely useless, that probably bothered me the most.”

She added: “That feels like a really long time ago, which is probably a benefit to the whole squad, but anybody would give anything to be a part of their team when they’re going through moments like that. It was tough. The only plus was sitting next to Jill [Scott] and sharing it with somebody who knew what it felt like.”