Simmons: He couldn't even eat a week after the injury

The Dutch attacking midfielder of London Tottenham Xavi Simmons suffered a cruciate ligament injury in an away match against Wolverhampton in the thirty-fourth round of the English Premier League and was ruled out until the end of 2026, missing the World Cup. In the last interview, the 23-year-old performer talked about the moment of injury and the recovery process. "I remember running. It was an action I did probably 10,000 times in my life. As soon as I wanted to pass to my partner, the opponent decided to stand under me. Then I felt my feet nailed to the ground, but my body continued to move in the other direction. At that moment I said to myself: "Let's see if something is wrong, let's try to get up. I tried to stand up and move, but then I felt my knee dislocate and jam. It was then that I realized that this was it. The doctors ran up to me and almost immediately said, "Xavi, I'm sorry, but it's the anterior cruciate ligament." When I heard this, I felt my whole body fall apart. I cried for a long time after that, of course when I was spending time with my family. The day after the injury, my mother came to our house. I remember how we sat at the table in the morning, and I kept thinking that I was missing the most important thing: the struggle of my club to avoid relegation. She told me, "Javi, stop. It's over. There's nothing you can do. It happened, you have to accept it and move on. Life doesn't just happen like that, and you have to look at it that way." She said this while looking straight into my eyes. Since then, my way of thinking has changed. The first four days after the injury were the worst of my life. I couldn't sleep. I haven't eaten anything for a week. I was in a lot of pain, nauseous, and dizzy. It was terrible. I wouldn't wish that kind of pain on anyone. I don't know how it happens to other players, but in my case, my whole body was like, "What's going on? I'm 23 years old, I've never been out of a game. This has never happened before, why now?". I think that's how my body reacted then. But it passed. I am very happy now and I am in a good mood. I am with my family and we have been working hard for my return. They have been through a lot with me over the past ten weeks. But I would say that from the second week everything went very well, even great, considering all the circumstances. Fortunately, I have the support of my club and seeing how my body reacts, I think: "Okay, now we can try something new and make progress in different moments." Every time I'm in the gym I think I need to get stronger and improve. Having that motivation every day really rewards me. My goal after returning to the game is simple - to get the club back where it belongs and win trophies. This is my main goal, and it will not disappear anywhere," said the Dutch performer.