Kroos in 'Goal': “It's been six or seven months playing with pain”

Toni Kroos is about to play again after stopping to solve a bad pubalgia that already weighed him down last season. The German has given an interview to the Goal.com website to talk about his current situation and the creation of the Tony Kroos Academy … The following is an excerpt from the first installment.

-How does it feel?

-I am happy because today I was able to do my third training session with the team without pain after six or seven months with pain, so it is a very good feeling. I have not played in three months, the last game was on June 29, at the European Championship, so I have to gain a little rhythm. But the most important thing is that it doesn't bother me much.

-Will he play before the Sheriff?

-I feel prepared and I think I will be in the call. From there we will see what is the best, how we can do it.

-How has the process been until you get here?

-It has been stopped for almost eight weeks, but all the time during the last five or six months I knew that I would reach the point where I would have to stop because it has been a long time. I started in March or so, with discomfort, and knew there was something in the pubis. From there I knew that if I continued playing I would reach the point of not being able to anymore, but it was very difficult to stop because I had to play the quarterfinals and the semifinals of the Champions League, then the Eurocup … It was very difficult for me to stop because of this. Then I told myself that I was going on vacation, to see if in those three weeks it would improve with rest and all that. Later, when I returned to training in Madrid, I tried and saw that I had not improved a bit and that I had to stop (…). It has not been easy for the head. The change with other injuries that I have had is that there has been more patience because I have suffered a lot in these five or six months and I only wanted one thing, not to feel pain; if he had to stop for many weeks, he would stop. The most important thing was not to have the same pain again.

-How did you experience it on a psychological level?

-I'm a footballer and I want to play, it's always hard for me to be injured. On the other hand, you try to see the positive things. In this case, having fewer trips, spending more time with my family …, but I'm a footballer and if I didn't like it I would retire, I don't have to play for something. I'm badly injured, you just have to ask our physios, I'm not happy and I always give everything to get back as quickly as possible.