Kim Little’s Big Comeback

Catherine Etoe charts Kim Little’s return from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, nine months in the making, from fifteen applauded minutes against Millwall in the FA Cup to captaining Arsenal for 89 minutes and taking Player of the Match in the Continental Cup final win over Manchester City. Joe Montemurro calls her world-class and praises her physical and mental strength; her physio Sam Blanchard tweeted that the comeback was something special. Little, a BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year and the first PFA Women’s Footballer of the Year, says she is taking it as it comes and listening to her body. She describes the injury as completely random, the first serious one of a career begun at Hibernian aged 16, weeks before Scotland’s first major tournament, and recalls punditry for Channel 4 as a push outside her comfort zone.