England’s Kelly could not watch Olympics while out
Chloe Kelly could not face watching the Olympics last summer ass here covered from the knee injury that had ruled her out–a time the wing er says ‘seems like so long ago’ now.
Kelly’s hopes of being part of Great Britain’ s squad for the Tokyo Games were ended after she sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury in May last year.
The 24-year-old Manchester City forward returned to club action in April, and was then brought back into the England fold as Sarinaher in her squad for this summer’ s home Euros.
Speaking ahead of the Lionesses’ final group game against Northern Ireland at St Mary’s this evening, Kelly said when asked about the contrast between last summer and now: “I didn’t actually watch any of the Olympics because I couldn’t actually face watching it. That was difficult for me, but I knew I had to focus on my rehab and my journey in that moment.”
Kelly did watch England’s matches in the men’s Euros last summer, on television and then attending the Wembley final. And she said: “I was enjoying watching games, but then my knee would stiff en up.
“It was a difficult summer last year. But looking back, that seems like so long ago and I’ m just enjoying myself here. I forget sometimes that I was injured, because since my injury I’ ve just come back and I’m enjoying my football.”
Kelly, who has come off the bench in England’s two group games so far, the 1-0 win over Austria and 8-0 thrashing of Norway, says she has a‘ completely different look on things now and a different mentality’ after the experience of her time on the sidelines.
“I enjoy myself, I’m just living in the moment, enjoy the moment, and when something like that happens to you and you’ re away from the game for so long I think nothing really fazes you after,” she said.
“Before, I’d get quite nervous for games – I don’t really have those nerves as I did because I’m thinking ‘what’s the worst that can happen?’ I’ve been through the worst that’s happened to me so far.
“So I enjoy every moment, playing with no fear.”
Kelly says something she found‘ really helpful’ after gettinginjured was being contacted by her England team-mate Jordan Nobbs, the Arsenal midfielder who missed out on selection for the 2019 World Cup after suffering an ACL injury. And she says she has been in touch with her former Everton team-mate Simone Ma gill after the Northern IrelandEuros was ended by the same issue. Another player to have recently suffered an ACL injury, ruling her out of the tournament, is Spain’s Ballon d’ O r-winning midfielder Alexia Putellas.
Kelly was asked if she thought there was more research that could be done regarding ACL injuries in women’s football, and said ‘of course’ before adding: “For me, I said it to my physio at the end of the rehab – why does everyone fear it so much? Why is it this person has done their AC Land then there’ s just a negativity that goes with it?
“We put nine to 12 months on it as soon as it happens. Throughout my injury I always thought I’ d be back sooner, but then there was always in the back of your head that people say it’ s nine to 12 months. I had a phase in my rehab where I actually believed I’d be back in seven, but I had a setback and I wasn’t.”