England Lionesses star Beth Mead tops up tan in bikini in Ibiza with partner Vivianne Miedema during Women’s World Cup
ARSENAL stars Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema are enjoying a holiday in Ibiza during the Women’s World Cup.
The duo were both ruled out of the tournament by devastating ACL injuries.
Both would likely have starred Down Under, but are instead having to watch their respective nations, England and the Netherlands, from afar.
In a bid to still make the most of their summers, the happy couple have taken a trip to Ibiza.
Mead, who came second in last year’s Ballon d’Or, posted a series of pictures to her Instagram account.
The 28-year-old shared snaps of herself and Miedema topping up their tans by taking in the glorious sunshine in their bikinis.
Striker Miedema also posted a photo dump on Instagram.
In one photo she wore an orange bikini aboard a boat of the same colour.
While in another she posed alongside Mead and fellow Arsenal team-mate Laura Wienroither.
The 27-year-old wrote: “Blended in with the boat. And plenty of Aquarius and palm trees this week.”
Like Mead and Miedema, Wienroither is also recovering from a devastating ACL injury, an issue blighting the women’s game, suffered in the Champions League semi-final against Wolfsburg in April.
While Wienroither’s Austria didn’t qualify for the World Cup, Mead and Miedema are proving to be big misses for their respective countries.
England have won both matches 1-0 but have lacked fluency, missing Mead’s creative spark.
And Sarina Wiegman’s side were struck by another devastating blow yesterday – losing Keira Walsh to a knee injury.
Mead was devastated for her friend, posting “Keira” accompanied by crying and broken heart emojis.
While Miedema called for action to be taken, tweeting: “Devastating to see the amount of injuries being picked up in this tournament so far…
“This World Cup should have been played with a 26-player squad to reduce stress on players and to let coaches deal with injuries correctly.”
The Netherlands, meanwhile, have also been goal shy – but have picked up a 1-0 win over Portugal and a creditable 1-1 draw with the United States.
Mead has been injured since November, narrowly missing out on a return in time for the World Cup.
Miedema suffered her injury in December, admitting in April that the World Cup would come too soon, but that she is hopeful of a return in time for next season.
She told the BBC: “I’m definitely going to miss the World Cup which is a hard one, but I’m hoping to be back for the beginning of next season. That’s my focus right now – I need to be realistic.”
On Mead, she added: “Beth is a bit in front of me, but I think you’ve seen what Sarina said last week: it will need a miracle for her to be fit for the World Cup. But we’re both just working as hard as we can and we will see how close we can get.
“I know what she’s feeling and she knows what I’m feeling. It’s frustrating for me because I’m a month behind so I see her doing a lot of things and I’m not there yet, but it’s very helpful and we want to push each other as much as possible, especially when we’re back on the pitch.”