Man City star talks about how he handled the dark days and overcame his injury

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As Ilkay Gundogan edges ever so close to a first start since December, he opens up about his dark days and how he dealt with them.

Gundogan featured off the bench against Watford and his first touch itself left everyone in awe. He took one touch and slid the ball down the side of Watford defence almost finding the rampant Sergio Aguero.

It could have been a perfect way to announce his return especially after the midfielder having been through so much and all doubts he had over his playing career.

His City teammates were mocked for wearing shirts with his name after he damaged his cruciate ligaments in a game against Watford a fortnight before last Christmas.

Gundogan himself issued a light-hearted rebuke of those players for their show of solidarity, reminding them “I’m not dead!”

But when you hear the Turkish descent midfielder talk about his tryst with the injury, some might feel that the gesture from the City squad was not as much of an over-reaction as it seemed that time.

“I was sad just to watch,” he admitted. “Just to be in front of the TV or in the stands.

“Of course I am used to playing every three, four or five days. If you don’t have that or somebody takes that away – an injury takes it away – then it is always disappointing. It always feels weird.

“To be honest, you don’t feel a part of the group anymore. You are not travelling with the team anymore.

“You do everything on your own … or with the physio or fitness training.

“So of course, that is the worst feeling you can have as a football player. So, that is also the reason it was that hard over the months.

“The worst time was, of course, the day of the injury or when I knew what exactly had happened. When I knew there would be six, seven, eight, nine months out. I think that was the worst feeling.

“The day after the surgery was not so good either, to be honest. But then, at one point, you start to do it again.

“You start to do your rehabilitation. You recover. You have ups and downs which is quite normal.

“Days you feel better, days you feel very bad. I think that is normal. It is not just me. In general, when you have a long-term injury, this is normal.

“I did not have doubts whether I would play anymore. I was quite sure.

“An ACL injury is a common injury so you have surgery, the doctors know what they are doing, the physios know how to rehabilitate the person. So, it is nothing special.

“But of course it is long and it is my second knee injury. There are doubts if I will be again at the level I had before so, of course, that is the case.

“Because of these ups and downs, more of the downs, it is sometimes frustrating. The doubts are at this point even bigger.

“To be honest, on the other side, I had no other choice. I am a football player. This is what I do.

“This is what I have done all my life. Since I was 18 as a professional as well. This is my job. For me, there was no other choice than to try again.”

And to play that pass with his first touch in his first match back must have felt special?

“Hopefully I still have the ability to make these kind of balls,” he said. “It was perfect. I saw the space and I tried it. Unfortunately, it was one metre too short.

“I got some good touches and we continued to play very well as a team. We did a lot of passing, possession, created a few more goals. It was nice to enjoy it, of course, I am pleased.

Gundogan is likely to feature from the start for Manchester City when they visit the Hawthorns for the third round of the Carabao Cup against West Bromwich Albion.

Read: Man City’s line up vs West Brom.