Refreshed Ellie Carpenter returns to Matildas squad for Scotland and England friendlies

Ellie Carpenter has issued an ominous warning to Australia’s World Cup rivals, saying she has returned from a serious knee injury “stronger, faster and better than before” after being called into the Matildas squad for the upcoming friendlies against Scotland and England.

The Lyon right-back spent nine months on the sidelines after rupturing her ACL in the Champions League final in May last year, but has made steady progress since returning for her club side in early February and appears on track to reclaim her place in Tony Gustavsson’s starting XI in time for their opener against the Republic of Ireland in Sydney on 20 July.

Carpenter last appeared for the Matildas in April 2022, but having come through her latest test unscathed – the Women’s Champions League quarter-final against Sam Kerr’s Chelsea on Wednesday night – the 22-year-old is eager to make the step up onto the international stage.

“Being away form the national team for so long it gives you that extra drive and that extra hunger to get back in,” Carpenter said. “And it’s a World Cup year so that was a massive motivation for me through my injury, to keep thinking there is such a big goal at the end of this.”

The road to recovery had not been easy for Carpenter, who is considered one of the best defenders in the world and has been a mainstay for the Matildas since making her debut as a 15-year-old in 2016.

She was stretchered off the Camp Nou pitch in tears during last year’s Champions League final before undergoing surgery on her damaged knee, but she said the time away from the football pitch since had helped refresh her both physically and mentally.

“Definitely it was hard and there were some ups ands downs,” she said. “But the most important thing I was