MADRID (AP) — Alexia Putellas doesn’t have fond memories of the last Women’s European Championship, when she tore a knee ligament on the eve of the tournament in England three years ago.
Things are different now as Spain prepares for its campaign at Euro 2025 in Switzerland, with Putellas saying she's better than ever and ready to try to lead Spain to its first title in the competition.
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Rear from left, Leila Ouahabi, Olga Carmona, Cristina Martin-Prieto and Alexia Putellas attend a training session of the Spanish women's national football team in Lausanne, Switzerland, Monday, June 30, 2025, ahead of the UEFA Women's EURO 2025. (Cyril Zingaro/Keystone via AP)
Spain's Alexia Putellas of the women's national football team signs autographs for her fans at the Royal Savoy hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland, on the sidelines of the UEFA Women's Euro 2025, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (Gabriel Monnet/Keystone via AP)
Spain's Alexia Putellas of the women's national football team arrives at the Royal Savoy hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland, on the sidelines of the UEFA Women's Euro 2025, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (Gabriel Monnet/Keystone via AP)
Spain's Alexia Putellas, right, of the women's national football team is welcomed by the Spanish Ambassador to Switzerland Maria Celsa Nuno Garcia at the Royal Savoy hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland, on the sidelines of the UEFA Women's Euro 2025, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (Gabriel Monnet/Keystone via AP)
“I’m not going to lie, it’s a competition that I had in my sights after the injury I suffered just before the start of the last Euro,” she said. “I’ve been preparing for this moment for a long time and I want to enjoy it.”
The two-time world player of the year was coming off one of her most impressive seasons when she injured her left knee during a practice session just days before Spain’s opener at Euro 2022. It kept her out of action for nearly a year and dealt a blow to Spain’s chances in the tournament, where it was ousted by England in the quarterfinals.
Putellas says she has improved a lot since then, even though other Spanish players such as Aitana Bonmatí — a two-time Ballon d’Or winner herself — have emerged as top stars.
“Without a doubt I’m a better Alexia,” she said. “I know myself a lot better, I know my qualities, I know what I have been working on. In the end, all the suffering makes you evolve as a person and as an athlete. I’ve learned to manage the bad moments a lot better, as well as the good moments.”
Putellas has had another outstanding season and is again among the favorites for the world player of the year award. She thrived as Barcelona won the domestic treble and reached another Champions League final.
“The individual award is not something too important for me,” the 31-year-old Putellas said. “But it would show that you’ve done something good and, from where I’m coming from — from the lowest of the lowest after the injury — it would give some value to the effort that it was put into the recovery. We’ll see, but the most important thing is to win the Euro.”
Bonmatí won the last two world player of the year awards, and she is now the one enduring an ordeal as after falling ill with viral meningitis just a few days before Spain traveled to Switzerland for the tournament. Bonmatí was released from the hospital on Sunday to rejoin the national squad, but it still wasn't clear how much she would participate.
Spain will open its tournament Thursday against Portugal. It will also face Belgium and Italy in Group B. The nation's best result in the European tournament was a semifinals appearance in 1997.
Spain established itself as one of the powerhouses in women’s soccer by winning the World Cup in 2023 and the inaugural Women’s Nations League in 2024. It then just missed out on a medal at the Paris Olympics, when it lost to Brazil in the semifinals and to Germany in the bronze-medal match.
“It's never easy to win a Euro," Putellas said. "We need to have maximum respect toward the other nations. There are great teams participating. But we have a lot of faith in our team, and if we give our best we will be that much closer to winning.”
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Rear from left, Leila Ouahabi, Olga Carmona, Cristina Martin-Prieto and Alexia Putellas attend a training session of the Spanish women's national football team in Lausanne, Switzerland, Monday, June 30, 2025, ahead of the UEFA Women's EURO 2025. (Cyril Zingaro/Keystone via AP)
Spain's Alexia Putellas of the women's national football team signs autographs for her fans at the Royal Savoy hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland, on the sidelines of the UEFA Women's Euro 2025, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (Gabriel Monnet/Keystone via AP)
Spain's Alexia Putellas of the women's national football team arrives at the Royal Savoy hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland, on the sidelines of the UEFA Women's Euro 2025, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (Gabriel Monnet/Keystone via AP)
Spain's Alexia Putellas, right, of the women's national football team is welcomed by the Spanish Ambassador to Switzerland Maria Celsa Nuno Garcia at the Royal Savoy hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland, on the sidelines of the UEFA Women's Euro 2025, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (Gabriel Monnet/Keystone via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
