On his return to full training with Milan, Alessandro Florenzi has opened up about the mental and physical battles whilst recovering from the hamstring injury which has kept him out of action for the majority of this season.
Milan have been without a natural right-back in recent games, with Davide Calabria also out of action nursing a hip problem.
The news coming out of Milanello this afternoon as per MilanNews is that both right-sided defenders as well as the influential Ismael Bennacer completed the full training session with the rest of the team.
It is expected that Stefano Pioli will have a full squad of players to choose from ahead of Saturday’s trip to Fiorentina, although it is not yet known whether any of the aforementioned players will feature in Tuscany.
Speaking to StarCasinòSport about his lengthy lay-off, Florenzi explained that his injury was different to anything he had previously experienced.
“It’s not the same injury, but a different muscular one from the others I’ve had. It was traumatic,” the Rossoneri defender explained.
“It is an injury that is hardly seen in this sport. These things can happen. The first few weeks weren’t easy, luckily I had my family behind me who helped me.”
The toll of the injury Florenzi sustained in August, which has limited him to just two appearances so far this season, has been as much of a battle mentally as it has physically.
“I was more than discouraged. I won’t deny it. There were certain moments when I wanted to give up on everything.
“The most important thing that I have is my family and they helped me to get out of this mental loop I was in. Seeing the ball was enough for me and the desire came back”.
The return of Florenzi, as well as Calabria and Bennacer, will provide a much-needed boost at the business end of the season.
All three could also be involved in the upcoming second leg of the Champions League Round of 16 against Tottenham on Wednesday.