Corentin Tolisso provides update on his ACL injury

It’s now been just about two months since Corentin Tolisso suffered his ACL injury in Bayern Munich’s 3-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen back in September. The French international was fresh off of a World Cup winning campaign with the French National Team in Russia and had just started working his way back into the Bayern squad after an extended holiday. It goes without saying that the injury was a massive blow for Bayern and an incredibly difficult one for Tolisso to deal with, both physically and emotionally.

There’s no disguising the emotional toll that a serious injury like an ACL tear can take on a player, and Tolisso admitted that it weighed heavily on him, especially after helping France win the World Cup:

I was going to have a great season after becoming world champion [with France] and everything fell apart. In soccer, everything can go so quickly...

Since his successful operation to re-attach the cruciate ligament, though, Tolisso has made steady progress regaining strength and muscle in the effected knee. Speaking to French outlet FFF (via Football356), the 24-year old provided an update on what he’s been doing with Bayern’s medical and training staff in recent weeks:

For four weeks, I couldn’t put my foot on the ground. Now I’m walking without crutches. I’ve done a lot of physical exercises with Bayern Munich’s staff. I’ve resumed riding a bike normally. The most important thing is to recover muscle mass.

Despite the growing optimism with how well his recovery has gone, Tolisso definitely does not set a potential return date in stone. Taking the proper amount of time to heal and recover, he said, far trumps the hunger and desire to get pack out on pitch running at pace as soon as possible:

I don’t want anyone to set a date for me, that someone tells me when I will be able to run, when I will be able to touch the ball again, etc. I really want to take my time and if I need seven months, I’ll take seven months. I don’t want to come back too quickly and hurt myself again two months after my comeback.

French National Team manager Didier Deschamps gave Tolisso a big vote of confidence after he suffered the injury, too, sending him a personal message:

I’m thinking of you, and I’m convinced that you’ll come back as strong, if not even stronger. The 2019 season will be much better for you.

The midfielder said Deschamps message gave him extra motivation to come back stronger to fight for his place in a packed French national squad:

The coach contacted me for news at the time of my injury and after the operation. That motivates me to come back even stronger, especially since places on the French team are hard to come by.