'It has been the worst five months of my life'
Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos has revealed that he was just 20 minutes away from never being able to play football again after sustaining an injury at last summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The former Arsenal loanee said that the fractured talus he sustained in Sapporo, and the subsequent misdiagnosis that allowed him to play only three weeks later, almost saw his career come to an end.
Ceballos spent time building himself back up to full strength after a spell on the sidelines during the tournament, with the midfielder desperate to feature in Spain's Olympics gold medal match against Brazil.
Ceballos came close to never being able to play again
However, after failing to recover in time for the match, it turned out that the Spaniard was only 20 more minutes of action away from never being able to play again.
He told
Marca: "It has been the worst five months of my life. My ankle did not respond to me."
"I tried to play the final with a bad medical report where they told me that I had an injury of 2-3 weeks where only the ligament was affected," Ceballos added.
"Well, no. When I arrived in Madrid it turned out that I had a fracture of the talus, a bone that supports a great deal of body weight."
"The doctors told me that if I had played 20 more minutes after the two infiltrations, I would no longer be able to play football."
Sent to 'expensive' physio in Barcelona
The 25-year-old said that, upon his return to Spain, he was sent to an 'expensive' physio in Barcelona. He thanked them for helping him return to full health and stated that there is no 'trace' of the injury left.
He said: "The recovery, it has been expensive, with treatment in Barcelona, a physio who has gone out of his way for me, external people… I have to thank everyone that there is no trace left."
Despite recovering from his serious injury, Ceballos has struggled for minutes with Madrid this season - featuring on just 17 occasions, making two starts. The midfielder's contract expires in 2023
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