«Now I aim to play continuously. We need an aggressive and compact Juventus»- Corriere.it

Frederick Church he wants to recover everything after a terrible year, with the serious injury that kept him away from the field for so many months, preceded by the one to his left thigh. «In 2023 I expect to play continuously and the goal is to get back in shape and find a certain playing time». Against Monza he had to forfeit, now he is fully available for the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup against Lazio, tomorrow night (and it was he who dragged Juventus into the round of 16, against Monza, in the only Juventus victory of the season over Brianza). “Unfortunately, I missed the last game due to fatigue, but I’m after a long injury,” he explains in documentary film outgoing on Prime Videos Friday 3 February, entitled “Federico Chiesa – Back On Track”— I must say that I feel good physically: I can’t give a percentage, only the pitch will tell when I’ll be at the top but I already started in Naples from the first minute».

However, these were not easy moments, and the forward underlines it: «The most difficult situation, the biggest blow, was when they confirmed to me that I had broken my crusader – it was operated on January 23, 2022, over a year ago — . The rest was hitting the daily goals, getting over the pain, and coming back well and fast. The return to the field took a long time but it can happen as the doctors told me: instead of 6 it took me 10 months (he returned in November against PSG, ed). But I could see the finish line, which I didn’t see at the beginning». The support of his father Enrico, a former striker, who in the course of his career suffered a rupture of the patellar tendon twice during his career was fundamental: «he told me about it. After the injury he told me “oh well, better the cruciate than the patellar tendon. He has given me a lot of advice and continues to give it to me because I have to live with minor annoyances. Instead my mother (Francesca, ed), who had gone through my ordeal, father the first thing he said to me was: in football it happens, now you have to roll up your sleeves and come back. They, my brothers and my fiancée have been close to me, I have to say thank you to all.

He had left a Juventus fighting for the Champions League and a fresh European champion national team, now finds the black and whites plunged into legal problems with a classification that is never so bad: «We must aim to achieve our objectives – says Chiesa – and with Juve we will have to score as many points as possible thinking about a match for time, while with Italy we are aiming for the 2024 European Championship». The Azzurri left him one of the biggest regrets of the year when he was stopped in the pits for the terrible knee injury: «The match I would have liked to play at all costs is the one against Macedonia because I would have wanted to lend a hand to my teammates , but unfortunately it was not possible ».

The docufilm «“Federico Chiesa – Back On Track”» is the first original production by Juventus Creator Lab, a sort of journey into 2022 for the Juventus striker: «I have grown up on a human and mental level, this injury puts you in front of so many obstacles that you’ve never faced before», reveals the 25-year-old.