Antonio Rudiger enjoyed his comeback almost five months after knee ligament surgery, but gave Roma teammate Alessandro Florenzi advice.
The defender made his return to action in the 3-1 victory at Sassuolo and minutes later Florenzi was stretchered off with an identical injury – ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
“It was four long months for myself and it was a hard time but I’m happy that I’m back with the squad,” Rudiger told Roma TV.
Antonio Rudiger enjoyed his comeback almost five months after knee ligament surgery, but gave Roma teammate Alessandro Florenzi advice.
The defender made his return to action in the 3-1 victory at Sassuolo and minutes later Florenzi was stretchered off with an identical injury – ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
“It was four long months for myself and it was a hard time but I’m happy that I’m back with the squad,” Rudiger told Roma TV.
“Of course I was happy. I was thinking a bit about the time, those four months, how things happen and everything. I was happy and everything, I was also a little bit nervous but I found myself very fast in that match because it was an important match. We did well last night.
“I know that my knee is stable now. Okay, you never know what happens, because we all saw what happened yesterday with Florenzi.
“I wish him a speedy recovery. All I can say to him is he needs to be positive, his environment needs to be positive, we are all with him and if he needs help we are all there for him because he is an important player for us. I hope he will be on the pitch with us soon.”
Considering Rudiger has been in that situation and was forced to miss Euro 2016 with Germany, what advice does he have for Florenzi?
“It was not easy, but for any person it is different. Everybody reacts differently to that sort of situation. Me, I started to laugh because, yeah, for me honestly of course it was a shock but I made up my mind very fast that feeling that, 'I have to work, these will be long months, but it is like this'.
"Like I said, your environment has to be good and this is what we have. Our physiotherapists are good, or fitness coaches are good.
“So he will have a good environment and now also important is his family. I hope he will be stable in his head, and just keep working.
“The first months are not easy. Especially the first two days after the operation, there is a lot of pain. Also of course you start thinking about how it happened, then ‘Okay, could I have done this better or something?’ – no, it is just something that happens. When it is your time it is your time.
"It is like this: You have to take it like a man, you have to look forward, you have to be positive because injuries are always bad. There is no good moment for injuries, but you have to make the best of it and stay positive.
“[Florenzi] has to know we are all waiting for him and everyone is with him. There is no need to have fear or something. He will come back and he will be even stronger than before.
“The first guy that called me was actually Kostas Manolas. And a lot of other guys – Kevin Strootman, Edin Dzeko – all of them spoke to me and I was very happy about that. But of course, the family was the main support.
“I received a lot of messages from the fans and I’m very, very thankful for that because it also gives power and shows you remain kind of important to them. I also thought it was very important to keep them informed. I say thanks to them for this.”
Rudiger was also asked about his reputation within the Roma squad as the best dancer after Leandro Paredes and Stephan El Shaarawy performed ‘the dab’ against Palermo.
"I think if they need help they need to come to me because I think in this team I am the best dancer ever. It is not arrogance, it’s just a fact.
"If they want to learn then I can give them more lessons!”