Koscielny: Returning to action ‘very emotional’

After rupturing his achilles in the semi-final of the Europa League at the end of last season; Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny made a return to senior action in the same competition, as he played 72 minutes of the ‘Gunners’ final group match on Thursday.

The defender has endured months of recovery, during which he could only watch on, as his international colleagues lifted the World Cup in Russia.

Nevertheless, the centre half is back in contention for Arsenal, and could even make his first league appearance of the season this weekend, when Arsenal travel to the south coast to play Southampton.

Koscielny spoke of his return after the match on Thursday night, telling ‘Arsenal.com’: “Yes, it was an important day for me. It was the end of my rehab, so I am very happy to play today with my team, for this club, and to enjoy it with them on the pitch.It was very emotional because you remember the first day when I was injured, the 3rd of May, and now we are on the [13th] of December, and you have some flashbacks in your head about different periods you had during your rehab.”

It was an incredible feeling... @Arsenal pic.twitter.com/wJV78rr3l0

— Koscielny (@6_LKOSCIELNY) 9 December 2018

He continued: “ I met a lot of people who helped me a lot, and so I'm very proud to know them now. There were some difficult moments, during this period, but now I think I'm more calm and focused on what I want, and physically I'm OK.”

Koscielny concluded: “I like to work! So I gave more for this and now I have the result for all the effort I made over seven months. It's been difficult but you learn a lot about yourself, about the people you have around you."