ALEX OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN admits a potential Champions League final outing with Liverpool is what “dreams are made of”, with the midfielder having overcome an injury nightmare to chase down major silverware.
There was a point not all that long ago when the England international must have wondered whether he would ever grace such a stage.
A serious knee injury suffered in a semi-final clash with Roma in April 2018 prevented him from turning out in the European showpiece last season.
He would spend 12 months on the sidelines, with only two substitute outings having been taken in since returning to fitness.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is, however, among those pushing for a place in Jurgen Klopp’s plans for the meeting with Tottenham on 1 June, and the 25-year-old is desperate to bring his Reds career full circle.
He told the club’s official website: “I wasn’t able to get loads of minutes [in the final league games], but I was happy to just come back.
“Dreams are made of maybe having some part to play in Madrid, but it’s not about me – it’s about making sure whoever is on the pitch does the job for the club and for the team.
“If I can be involved, that would be amazing, but just to be around it and be fit and healthy again is good for me as well at the minute.”
Oxlade-Chamberlain is among those currently taking in a warm weather training camp in Marbella. It was during a previous trip to the Spanish resort back in February that he first returned to the fold, with steady progress having been made from that point.
“That was a nice trip for me back then, being back in and around the lads for the first time,” he recalled.
“At times it’s been a little bit frustrating as well because you feel you are back and to then keep up with these boys after the long season they’ve had and the intensity they train at, coming back from a year [out] it’s not so easy and you pick up little things along the way.
“It’s been another little journey for me the last part, but it’s been really exciting to be in and around the team and in contention to maybe have some part in the final, but just to be involved is amazing for me.
“After crutching my way around the pitch last year, it’s nice to be in this situation!”
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Soccer always attracts the best
@John O Reilly: Turkey are a cut above.
@John O Reilly: soccer is a game for all, the rich, the poor and everyone in between. It’s not elitist and is representative of society as a whole, as all sports should be. This incident is representative of our society not soccer fans in general.
@GrumpyAulFella: it’s called football,generally it’s country people & Gaa heads who call it soccer…..FIFA UEFA don’t have the name soccer attached to them
@Tony Doyle: it’s the English themselves who coined the term soccer. People can it whatever they want. Your “country people (whatever that means) and GAA heads” quip is quite nonsensical.
@Tony Doyle: Wrong. It’s not called football. It’s called association football which is where the word soccer comes from and both FIFA and uefa have the word association in their names. It’s not just country people and gaa heads, as you so unintelligently put it, that call it that. It’s called that in other countries as well like the USA and Australia to distinguish it from the likes of American football or Aussie Rules Football in the same way it’s used here to differentiate it from Gaelic football. If anything soccer is a more correct term than just football as it’s derived from the sport’s proper name
@Mark Jay: Correct. Specifically it was students in Oxford who used the terms soccer and rugger to differentiate between association and rugby football
Very unlike the Turkish fans.
Have no interest in any team who supports putin. Fans or club’s.
Disgusting.
It takes a special kind of person to stoop to a level that low. Soccer fans get their moment in the spotlight. Can’t really say it was only a small percent in this case
They are some soulless people in the world unfortunately and this is an example.
Jayyyysus
Strange war if football players don’t have to sign up. Just asking…
@John Smith: perhaps they’re the morale booster the troops need? Something to tune into outside of the war, just saying…
I don’t think there are very many critical thinkers among the readership here.
What would you expect from a pig but a grunt?!
Do you know why the war started?
Gh,
@David Hughes: Well said
@mcdb06: and thanks to you I will be forever in your debt
G
I guess we are all Fenerbache fans now
@JustBEERbarry: don’t you mean Dynamo??
Gh
meh… Kiev still won…. They (the chanting fans) were just showing themselves up as sore losers
Igno rant fules. Likely to be perceived as toxic. And rightly so.
Turkish fans chose right side. Any respect from tolerant Europe?