Owen Hargreaves has admitted he has struggled to come to terms with the true extent of his 18 month injury nightmare. Tendinitis in the midfielder's knees has limited him to 25 starts for United in three years since his £17m move from Bayern Munich in 2007, with Hargreaves saying he never expected the injury to cause such a lengthy lay-off.
The 29 year old conceded he rushed his initial comeback from another knee problem in the Chelsea match 18 months ago, and explained how his desperation to play had made the problem worse.
Hargreaves told the Mail on Sunday: "I probably shouldn't have played in that game. I struggled to drive my car for three days afterwards. Something was very wrong.
"The last year has been difficult. As an athlete you think you are invincible. You don't think something of this magnitude will happen. I obviously had the problem when I came to Manchester United from Germany in 2007 and we tried to manage it.
"Part of the problem for me was my competitiveness. I was new to United and they had spent a lot of time, energy and money in getting me from Bayern Munich.
"I wanted to do well, obviously. I came with symptoms (of tendinitis) but everyone said, 'Don't worry, it will go', so I always tried to be available. But playing on it made it worse. I wanted to play, though, so I played through it."
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