Midfielder of “Genoa” and the national team of Ukraine Ruslan Malinovskyi shared details about his recovery after a serious injury.
“The unpleasant things are already behind. After the operation, the first two or three weeks were uncomfortable, but the last three weeks I have been working a lot. Recovery is going as planned, even much better than we expected. There’s a lot of work on mobilization and strengthening the ankle, upper and lower muscles. Starting next week, a lot of work will begin; I will start doing cardio. We made the program in such a way that every week we look at the results and analyze whether the flexibility of the ankle has improved. And that is very good.
The support is very great; everyone is waiting for me to return to the field as soon as possible, both the fans and Mister have been calling me from the first day, asking how I feel. And now he keeps his finger on the pulse, interested in how the recovery is going. Everyone is waiting for me, and I was very pleased that the guys from the national team called me during the October training camp, we had a bit of a laugh. It was very nice. Such things give you strength to recover faster.
In 9 days, it will be exactly two months since I got injured. And in my head, I already model how I will return to the field. But right now, the main thing is to do a lot of work for that. And now Roxana is also supporting me very much, and that is very important. It’s what helps me. I need to stay positive.
I have already checked: at “Venezia” the field is like this… Once Álvaro Recoba tore his cruciate ligaments on it. There, the irrigation system doesn’t always work properly. We played this match at 15:00, and in some places the ball slid over the surface, while in others it got stuck a lot. And there was a moment when a pass came, I wanted to clear the ball. I couldn’t do it because there was a cross.
To get to the ball, I needed to take three steps. And at the last moment, Haps, the left winger of “Venezia,” disoriented me. I wanted to clear the ball in a slide tackle. When I was sliding, my leg got stuck in the ground. Our sports director later examined that spot. It turned out there was some bump, that’s why my leg got stuck. And when I got to my feet, I heard that there was “a little grissini,” that’s Italian breadsticks. So, my leg cracked like grissini. I heard that crack, saw my leg, and understood: “We’re done.” It was an accident.
This is the fibula, I think that’s what it’s called. I broke it, unfortunately. The joint slightly came out of place. This adds some problems. I have watched that episode 100 times. What happened cannot be changed. This is football; I have already had more than one operation. I can say that cruciate ligaments are twice as worse than what happened now. In the case of cruciate ligaments, recovery and rehabilitation take much longer.
A poor start in the Nations League? Many factors played a role; the team has changed a lot in recent years. There was a lack of experience somewhere. Regarding Euro 2024, I recall Euro 2020, where we reached the quarter-finals. Back then, we might not have shown the best football, lost to the Netherlands, had a very hard win over North Macedonia, lost to Austria, but somehow we squeezed through and defeated Sweden.
The European Championship gathers the best teams; it is very important experience, but you also need a bit of luck. In these matches, the first game was crucial. Before the first goal, we controlled the game. And I see now in Italy that little details affect the outcome of the match. One or two mistakes can ruin the entire game plan. Someone might not have been able to withstand psychologically; for someone, it was their first Euro. This is also a psychological factor.
We will have tough games against Georgia and Albania. Especially in Albania, I think you saw, there’s a new stadium and a crazy atmosphere. I talked to Djimsiti; he won’t play either, which is better for us. And still, these will be two tough games. The Georgians showed in the first game that they are very technical; due to their mistakes, we squeezed the maximum. So these will be two games where we need to play very solidly and aim for a result. Georgia will attack a lot at home, so we need to play very reliably in defense. Georgia is currently at a good level.
I read in the press; they started bringing up his interview. When he was last in Rome, he said: “When Rome calls you, you must say yes.” I also saw a video of the club president meeting Ranieri in London. Anything is possible. He had a very strong season with Cagliari last year. Ranieri is a very important person for “Roma.”