Against Manchester United, the Newcastle United defender made his first start in 13 months.
Emil Krafth made his Newcastle United debut against Manchester United last night, assisting his team to a 3-0 victory at Old Trafford.
The Swedish footballer had not played in 13 months after suffering a serious knee injury in a Carabao Cup second round match against Tranmere Rovers last August.
Lina Krafth, his wife, has now spoken out about her husband’s struggle to regain match fitness.
The defender expressed gratitude to Newcastle fans on social media. “400 or so days later, it’s an incredible feeling to be back,” Krafth said. ‘Wow, what a team performance! Thank you to everyone who came!”
Krafth’s post drew a lot of attention, particularly from former United player Allan Saint Maximin, who commented,
“What a guy.” Mehrdad Ghodoussi, co-owner, also commented, saying, “So well deserved.” It’s all because of your
hard work and dedication.”
Lina Krafth has now shared the post on social media, enlightening fans even more about her husband’s journey.
The mother of two reshared the right-back’s post, writing, “FINALLY!!!” The manner in which you fought.”
Lina then added, “Impressed and proud of you,” along with a flurry of red hearts.
Krafth made a couple of appearances for United’s under 21s before returning to the senior squad. “Sometimes it’s tough, you know, just coming here every day,” the 29-year-old told the matchday programme ahead of his first appearance in September. You’ve been doing the same thing for months. I think the first five months were the most difficult for me because you were only in the gym all the time. When the lads went out onto the pitch, it felt like I went into a bunker or something – I could never see training because when they went out, I went to the gym, and you just spend so much time at the training ground.
“You go home, you’re exhausted, you sleep… you wake up the next day and do the hard work all over again, for such a long time.” I mean, sometimes the glass is just, how do you put it, over the top? And sometimes you just lose your momentum. But I believe this is normal. That’s why I haven’t been there all the time – for example, I’ve been back to Sweden for a couple of weeks to get some more motivation, change the environment, and see some other people.
“But I’ve been here all the time since I was out on the grass.” When you’re gone for that long, you need to switch off for your mental health and everything else. To be fair, it’s been a long road. I had my ups and downs during the rehabilitation, but I’ve now been back on the pitch for a couple of months and for the last four weeks or so I’ve been with the team, which is a really good feeling.
“From day one, your goal is to be back with the team, start training, and play games.” Of course, I have a little longer before I’m fit enough to play a game, but that will come. I’ve worked really hard with the team out there. I’ll probably play a game for the under-21s just to get some game time and get in shape, but it feels great to be back.”
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