[VI] Jurriën Timber speaks about his injuries: “I thought: how am I going to do this now?” He had to go undergo surgery anyway after the season because of his ankle, but in recent weeks he suffered another injury. Nevertheless, he played in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
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Timber quickly fought back into Arsenal's base after his torn cruciate ligament, but again he had to deal with injury. The defender struggled with a bone in his ankle that hurt. 'It got worse and worse', he says in Matchday, the talk show of music group Broederliefde. 'I had a scan done at Oranje and the conclusion was that I had to undergo surgery at the end of the season. I wanted to continue playing at Arsenal anyway, but that went with difficulty.'
It is not uncommon for footballers to play with painkillers. “Sometimes the pain is much worse. I've experienced how that feels now. I only trained one day before the game', the 23-year-old international outlines his situation.
In the first semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, he received another injury, in the heel of the foot of the sore ankle. 'At halftime I thought: I have no idea how to play this out, because I couldn't even run. But in the second half I got adrenaline again and in the eightieth minute it was time to go out.'
Timber feared missing the return game against PSG. 'I didn't train all that week and was stressing for that second semi-final. It hurt so much.' But Timber's injury couldn't be much worse, so manager Mikel Arteta set him up anyway. 'The trainer thinks: Jur has done a scan, it can't get worse, just make sure you're ready, but he doesn't see how much pain I'm in.'
One day before the return, Timber trained again to see how it would go. Not well, was his conclusion. 'I made an overlap at Saka. Running didn't hurt, but it did. So I stopped sprinting, I thought: this won't be him. I was really bothered, but the trainer said to me: ''Jur, take your time.'' Walking was just hard.'
Timber would wait for the warm-up a day later to see if he could play against PSG. 'With my ankle I knew I was having surgery at the end of the season. I just wanted to play these games. But now I had the feeling that I just wasn't going to make it. But adrenaline turns out to be the best drug.” Arsenal ran aground and PSG later won the Champions League.
Timber has now been operated on. The defender is currently enjoying a holiday and will begin preparing for the new season with Arsenal in July. The Gunners start the Premier League with a topper and will visit Manchester United on Sunday, August 17.