The England winger Jessica Naz will miss the rest of the season after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury in her right knee.
The 25-year-old was withdrawn injured during Tottenham’s Women’s Super League victory over Aston Villa on Sunday. Spurs released a statement on Tuesday saying that Naz would undergo surgery.
The Manchester United head coach, Marc Skinner, has hailed OL Lyonnes as Europe's best team but urged his side to take the game to the eight-time European champions in Leigh on Wednesday.
Skinner's team are a point behind the French club in the Women's Champions League table after winning three of their first four matches in their debut campaign at this stage of the competition, meaning they have secured at least a knockout-phase playoff spot.
Both sides hope to finish in the top four to progress automatically to the quarter-finals, and Skinner said: "We’re playing the best team in Europe. I know Barcelona are up there as well, but Lyon have the capacity to be the best team in Europe, so we’re going to need them [the fans], and what I want Lyon to feel tomorrow is the force that Manchester United are and can become.
"Lyon have the ability to create something from nothing in any moment of the game. We have to concentrate and be at our very best. If we defend for the whole game, Lyon will win."
He added: "We can’t just sit off them. We’ve got to be very respectful of that. We must attack. We’re at home and we look forward to trying to give ourselves that quality going forward too.”
When United re-formed their senior women's side in 2018, Lyon were five-time winners of this competition, but Skinner does not want his players to be nostalgic by any thoughts of how far they have come to reach this point: "If I wasn’t Man Utd manager I would be saying: ‘Wow, what a fantastic achievement.’ [But] there is no room for this romanticism. If you live in a nostalgic space, you lose ground."
Skinner confirmed his side would be without Elisabeth Terland because of a knock to her "upper body" on Sunday, but he expects the striker to return for Sunday's league game against Tottenham Hotspur. Tom Garry
Her injury is the latest in a mountain of ACL injuries that have affected her England teammates and other WSL players this season. Michelle Agyemang, a star of England’s Euro 2025 campaign, tore an ACL in October. Liverpool’s Marie Höbinger and Sophie Román Haug, Arsenal’s Manuela Zinsberger, Aston Villa’s Jill Baijings and Tottenham’s Maite Oroz also sustained ACL injuries in October, before the Arsenal youngster Katie Reid picked up the same injury in November.
Naz, who has six caps, having made her debut in July 2024, fought back from an ACL injury sustained in 2019 in her other knee during pre-season training in Spain. She spent about 18 months on the sidelines and has since established herself as a key player for Spurs.
She has played in all 10 of Tottenham’s matches this season to help them sit an impressive fifth in the WSL, two points behind second-placed Chelsea.
Spurs said: “Everyone at the club gives Jess their full love and support on her recovery journey.”
The German football association said last month that players in the top two levels of German women’s football were four times more likely to rupture an ACL than their male counterparts.
