Wales assessing Ethan Ampadu’s knee injury after Spain friendly

Ethan Ampadu made his latest start for the Wales national football team on Thursday, but not only were they wiped off the pitch by yet another imperious Spain performance, Ampadu’s day was forced to end early, just five minutes into the second half, after he picked up a knee injury.

While he was seen walking around after the match, Wales boss Ryan Giggs was not exactly ready to give the all-clear in his post-match comments.

“Ethan just extended his knee a little bit in the second half, and we will assess it and see how it is...”

-Ryan Giggs; source: West London Sport

We certainly couldn’t possibly have an international break without an injury or two, now could we?

When it happened, Chelsea teammates César Azpilicueta and Álvaro Morata felt the need to go and check on him, but hopefully the assessment comes back without any bad news. Ampadu, who hit the post with a header earlier in the game, may still be looking for his first Chelsea minutes since preseason, but an injury is the last thing he needs.

The one Chelsea player missing from that video is Marcos Alonso, who was on the Spain bench and remained there for the duration. Azpilicueta himself was removed just past the hour mark, but Morata completed the full 90 but did not manage to get on the scoresheet in Spain’s dominant 4-1 win. Also, Kepa played keepa’ after rotating in for David de Gea at the half.

Meanwhile, France left N’Golo Kanté on the bench and promptly gave up two goals to Iceland, then fought back to earn a 2-2 friendly draw. Olivier Giroud played the full match and of course did not score. A player on Chelsea’s books did however play a direct role in one of the goals: it was Kurt Zouma’s header that was stopped by an outstretched arm that led to Kylian Mbappé’s equalizing, last-minute penalty. This was Zouma’s first cap in three years (and third overall), and the first since the ACL injury that has so derailed his Chelsea career.

Elsewhere, Matt Miazga played the full match as Colombia beat the USA 4-2 in a friendly. The Americans actually took the lead with two goals in three second-half minutes, but the visitors then stormed back with three of their own. Chelsea old boys Juan Cuadrado and Falcao both started for Colombia, with the latter scoring what proved to be the winning goal.