Piccini: "I'm very happy to be back"

Cristiano Piccini's return to action, almost a year to the day since he suffered a serious knee injury, was one of the bright spots of the friendly against CD Castellón. The Italian has finally put the situation in his rearviewmirror, is preparing for the upcoming 2020/21 season, and spoke to VCF Media to explain how it feels to be back out on the pitch.

"Obviously I'm very happy. It's been a very difficult year, because many things have happened. I had an operation on August 29th of last year, and only started training with the team again during the pandemic. I had another operation after that. People think that injuries are like holidays, but they aren't. It's a lot of work and a lot of suffering. I'm happy to have finally played again, and put this injury behind me," he said after the match at the Antonio Puchades.

"You always have to take away the positives from an injury. In the end, you have to be able to wait and be patient, working better than before. I haven't learnt to take better care of myself, because I've always taken fairly good care of myself, but I've maybe learnt to be more aware of the details that make the difference in football," reflected the defender.

"It seems like now I'm here and everything is ok, but it's been difficult. I've had sleepless nights because of the pain, had constant disappointment -one day you can feel good, and the next you have pain in your knee and can't walk. I've worked hard and suffered a lot, and thought about myself -because I deserve it and because I've shown that I'm a hard worker. I'm happy about how I've worked, and thank the physios, the medical staff and my teammates. They never let me be alone, not for a single day."