Gerrard: I was so down
Steven Gerrard made a sensational scoring return to Liverpool's starting line-up at the weekend but he admits the last six months have been the most difficult of his career.
The skipper started in a red shirt for the first time since March during the draw with Manchester United on Saturday.
He concedes there were times during his lay off when it was hard to stay positive.
"When I got the injury I knew it was going to be a serious one, something that I wasn't used to," said Gerrard in an exclusive interview with LFC magazine this week.
"I had to try to be positive. I'll admit that I was down, as low as I've ever been as a footballer.
"Before the operation I'd been getting niggles and having injections to play. Basically I knew I wasn't right. I was fighting to get fit, just to get out on the pitch. I was trying to put my body on the line.
"But it wasn't the real me and I wasn't the player I want to be. I was missing training sessions and coming in the day before a game trying to get that last session in, or having injections to play the next day.
"You can only do that for a certain amount of time before your body gives in, and mine gave in. My groin packed in on me. When it happened I was down and I was low.
"I had to try to be as positive as I could be but it took time before I got back in to a positive frame of mind. It probably wasn't until a couple of weeks after the operation, when I got off the crutches, that I started being really positive again. That was because I could see I was progressing day by day. When that happens your positivity creeps back in.
"Without a doubt the last six months have been the hardest of my career."
The full Gerrard interview, plus a chance to win a signed copy of Pepe Reina's new autobiography, are in this week's LFC magazine.