Vivianne Miedema has opened up on the "difficult" pain management programme she is following at Arsenal in a bid to avoid another serious injury.

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• Miedema missed most of 2023 due to ACL tear
• Returned to action in October
• Pain now part of her 'normal' routine

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  WHAT HAPPENED?

  Miedema tore the anterior cruciate ligament injury in her knee during a Champions League clash with Lyon in December 2022, and spent the next 10 months working her way back to full fitness. She missed the Netherlands' 2023 World Cup campaign due to the issue, but finally returned to action for Arsenal in October and is starting to feel like her "old self" again.

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• WHAT MIEDEMA SAID

  Miedmema is back with the Netherlands national team ahead of their Nations League semi-final clash against Spain on Friday, and told of how her body is holding up: "I almost feel like my old self again. I have of course played more and more after the winter break. After a cruciate ligament injury it sometimes involves trial and error. That is normal and we have taken that into account. So we have to see how I feel this week. I feel fit and fresh. Hopefully it will remain that way this week."

  She added: "I think the new normal is a bit different from the old normal. That does not mean that I am on the field with pain every day. I think it was just very painful at the beginning. It took a lot of getting used to and now you have found a certain way to deal with it."

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Miedema did, however, admit that she fears a reoccurrence of the ACL problem, and is learning how much she can push herself through "trial and error". The 27-year-old forward continued: "It is difficult. You come back after being in the gym for so long. You are going to play football again and there is a completely different tension. A completely different strain, both physically and mentally. That involves trial and error. Sometimes it feels good and other times you think 'is it going to happen again', but at the moment I just feel free and good on the field again. Then I don't think about anything other than the game on the field."

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  WHAT NEXT FOR MIEDEMA?

  Miedema, who scored her first goal for Arsenal in 13 months during a 2-0 WSL victory over Liverpool last month, is now targeting a place at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The Netherlands will qualify if they win the Nations League, and will face Germany or France in the final if they get past Spain, who knocked them out of the World Cup at the quarter-final stage. "We are now six months further, if not longer. We have made progress after the World Cup" Miedema said. "We are all six months further and it is of course a completely different competition. A World Cup or the Nations League. We just want to approach the competition as we always do."

Tags: Futebol
Category: News