Scotland captain Andy Robertson has revealed that he was playing injured for Liverpool during the last two months of the season.
Robertson was limited to just 30 appearances in all competitions for Liverpool in the just completed season as he missed 24 matches through enforced absences.
Such a total was his lowest return for the club since he first joined Liverpool in the summer 2017 and initially served as back-up to Alberto Moreno, with the 30-year-old’s next lowest return being 43 outings.
Suffering a dislocated shoulder while away with Scotland in October, such an injury was responsible for the majority of Robertson’s absence with the left-back not making his return until late January as a result.
However, he also suffered an ankle injury while away with the Tartan Army during the March international break, which saw him miss the Reds’ 2-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion on March 31.
Having limped out of training for Scotland in midweek prior to their heavy 5-1 opening defeat to Germany at Euro 2024, Robertson has admitted that he has been playing through the pain barrier over the past two months.
“[I am] physically good, mentally good, looking forward to what’s ahead,” he said ahead of facing Germany.
“I had an ankle injury from March and I’ve kind of been nursing it a little bit from then on, but it feels good.
“It’s in a good place now, we just didn’t want to aggravate it any more. We were pretty relaxed about the whole situation [Robertson’s training injury].
“Maybe some others weren’t, probably particularly my family before I could phone them. But I’m all good to go. Mentally, physically we’re all ready and come kick-off we’ll be 100 percent.”
After returning to training, Robertson was passed fit to face Germany on Friday night as he captained Scotland in their opening match. Completing the full 90 minutes, he could do nothing to prevent them suffering a heavy defeat to the host nation.
New Liverpool head coach Arne Slot will hope that Robertson can avoid aggravating the injury further throughout the rest of Euro 2024, before being able to report back fully fit for pre-season next month.
