Giovanni Leoni: I want to come back stronger than before
- Chris Stuart
- Jan 3
- 1 min read
Giovanni Leoni has vowed to ‘come back stronger’ as he progresses in his recovery from a serious knee injury.
The 19-year-old centre-back sustained a torn ACL that cruelly ended his promising Liverpool debut in the Carabao Cup win over Southampton at Anfield in September.
Leoni, a summer signing from Parma, is continuing his rehabilitation programme at the AXA Training Centre and told Gazzetta dello Sport: “As soon as I hit the ground I said to Conor Bradley, my teammate: ‘I’ve done my cruciate.’
“It had never happened to me [before] but it was a strange feeling, I thought: ‘That’s it, period.’ A great, strong pain, the strongest pain I have felt in life… I believe that life reserves certain things and destiny has led me to this. To myself, I say: ‘It must have happened to make me stronger.’
“I can’t look at the long term, I only think about training my mind. I am determined to look at the day itself, to do what makes me feel good and take care of the recovery. Setting long-term goals means having new problems, in case of slow-downs [in recovery].
“Now the hardest part is over. I’m doing rehab, I’m in the swimming pool, the gym. For a footballer, an injury like this can be the most difficult moment of his career but now I just want to train my head to come back stronger than before.
“I think that’s the key thing: the head can do most of the work.”
