A cruciate ligament rupture on Matchday 3 put Corentin Tolisso out of action for virtually the whole of last season, and it took until the DFB Cup final against RB Leipzig before he was able to celebrate his comeback on the pitch. Several months of tough and stressful rehab lay behind him when he walked onto the pitch at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. FC Bayern TV accompanied the newly-crowned world champion during this period and shows Coco's emotional journey in a 20-minute film called "251 Days" on YouTube.
The midfielder talks in detail about his feelings during the tough journey back to the pitch. "I was very frustrated," said the 25-year-old, describing the moment the doctor diagnosed him with a cruciate ligament rupture. But shortly after, he was ready to start work on his punishing rehabilitation at the performance centre. "Seeing my teammates at the training ground every day was hard, but at the same time it was my greatest motivation," reminisces the Bayern number 24.
In the meantime Tolisso is again an integral part of the team and has big ambitions: "I want to get through a whole season without injury and win as many trophies as possible with FC Bayern. I also want to play for France again". That latter wish came true for him this weekend. Almost exactly a year after his last match for the Èquipe Tricolor, Tolisso was back in action in the reigning world champions' 4-1 thrashing of Albania on Saturday evening.
"251 Days" shows how the Frenchman made it back there. Tolisso describes, among other things, how he felt after his first training session with the Reds and what went through his head when Niko Kovač told him to get ready to come on as a substitute in Berlin. In addition, Tolisso reveals which teammate was particularly helpful during his journey.
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