Pain, worry … then delight: what it’s like for a footballer to be injured
I recently returned to the pitch after several months but while out injured I seem to have rediscovered my love for football
Last Saturday, I had my first competitive action as a footballer since 14 December. Ninety-three days after fracturing the fifth metatarsal in my left foot, I had the joyful feeling of finally stepping out on to the pitch again in front of our home crowd in Munich. I had expected to be more nervous, but thanks to the girls playing a fantastic game – en route to a 5-0 win over RB Leipzig – I was able to run out there with a good feeling in my body.
I’d like to take you through the process of my recovery from that injury – the most serious I’ve had since fracturing the same bone in my other foot when I was 17. That experience meant that when it happened this time, in our Champions League home game against Ajax, I recognised the feeling straight away. I felt the crack and was able to tell some of the girls what it was even before the physio had got to me.
