Arsenal Women forward Lina Hurtig will return to London and will not be available for Sweden’s Nations League game away against Spain on Tuesday night.
Hurtig came on in the 81st minute of Sweden’s defeat against Switzerland on Friday which means Sweden won’t feature at next summer’s Olympics. Hurtig completed the game but apparently felt some muscular discomfort.
A statement on the Swedish FA’s website read, “Lina Hurtig will not be available for the match against Spain on Tuesday. With that, the forward leaves the gathering in Malaga and travels home to her club team Arsenal.
“Lina suffered a minor injury in the match against Switzerland and the assessment is that she will not be available for the game tomorrow. Therefore, Lina is now leaving the squad and traveling home to her club today, says national team doctor Sadesh Balasingam.”
It marks an ongoing period of frustration with injuries for Hurtig, who missed the majority of last season with foot and calf injuries. Hurtig missed the victory over West Ham just before the international break but Arsenal felt the injury was not severe enough to hold her back from international duty. Sweden’s game with Spain is now a dead rubber for Sweden so it remains to be seen how serious this injury is.
Arsenal play Chelsea on Sunday at Emirates Stadium with 55,000 tickets currently sold.
Can we un-register Lina and register Gio instead? Seems daft we have left out Gio who could play if required for the Swede who doesn’t seem to be able to play for 9 minutes without getting injured!
It’s ridiculous how one minute she’s getting a 20 minute cameo against Leicester & looking good then 3 days later for a Conti Cup game she’s not in the squad cause she’s picked up an injury in the 1 day of full training beforehand
Didn’t Gio also have injury issues last season?
I feel very sorry for the player – the niggling injury vortex must be horrible to be stuck in. These should be her best years, as well.
I’m not particularly keen on her for Arsenal but that’s by the by. Bad luck, Lina, hope you are fit again soon.