Umtiti talks about long-term recovery from injury: I didn t "lay down", I have been working hard

Sports Weekly Full Media Original

In September this year, 31-year-old French central defender Umtiti announced his retirement through a post on his personal social media account. In the summer window of 2016, Barcelona signed Umtiti for a transfer fee of 25 million euros. In the first season after joining, Umtiti became Barcelona's main central defender and performed well. In 2018, Umtiti ushered in the most glorious moment of his career. In the World Cup that summer, Umtiti helped the French team win the championship as the main player.

However, after that World Cup, Umtiti's career took a sharp turn. Troubled by injuries, Umtiti's appearances have dropped sharply and his form has been greatly affected. At the end of his career, Umtiti was still plagued by injuries. His last career appearance will be in January 2024. Umtiti is mainly troubled by knee injuries, which he already suffered during the 2018 World Cup.

When playing for Barcelona, ​​Umtiti was criticized by some people for being "lying flat" due to a long-term injury and being unable to appear. In a recent interview, Umtiti responded, "After the 2018 World Cup, I wanted to take some time to examine my injury and then make the right decision to see how to treat it. I did not completely agree with the treatment plan given by Barcelona at the time, so I decided to listen to the opinions of other experts. At that time, most people told me that I did not need surgery, and Barcelona also respected my decision."

However, conservative treatment did not make Umtiti's knee injury better, and the French central defender has been troubled by knee injuries. Regarding external criticism, Umtiti said, "I think there are some internal things that outsiders don't know. I just chose another treatment plan because the one given before didn't work. But from then on, people started talking, spreading some false news, and blaming me. For me, the answer is Returning to the field is the most important thing."

Umtiti admitted that he was also mentally tortured. "I know very well that I have been greatly affected mentally and I have also gone through a very depressed stage. But people don't even want to go out. But people don't know anything about it. They will think that. If I don’t post anything on social media, then he hasn’t done anything. But the fact is that I have been working hard on my recovery, almost sacrificing my life and not seeing friends.”

In Umtiti’s view, the comments from the outside are very unfair, “When I saw the news reported in the media, I was thinking. , Why do people speculate on me like this? I am not just for money, I just want to play football. I read some books about the disease and stopped eating red meat and fish, just to reduce inflammation. "

文/Yanshan