Positive outlook for Marcus Olsson as road to recovery begins

The Derby County player said the anterior cruciate ligament injury in his left knee was the first major injury setback in his professional career.

Olsson, 30, made 15 Championship appearances to help Derby reach the play-offs and, after a stop-start campaign, the Sweden-born player looked to have established himself as a starter as the Rams switched to a back-three for the last few games of the season.

He started at left wing-back as Derby fought their way back into play-off contention with a stunning 3-1 win against Cardiff City at Pride Park, before he also started the final game of the regular season against Barnsley.

Olsson, injured in that Barnslery match, said he is fully focussed on his recovery at the Rams’ training centre.

He told RamsTV: “I am getting a lot of good help and there is a lot of good work being done by the physios, so I am just trying to make the best of it.

“I’m very confident in everybody that helps me around here.

“It’s very long, but I have to be positive and hopefully I can come back stronger.

“They have told me that it’s not an injury to rush, you want to take your time and make sure that everything is right before you get out there on the pitch.

“It could take longer than it should because you want everything to be right, but you just need to have patience.

“When I felt it, I didn’t expect it to be bad, because it’s nothing that I’ve had before, but that’s life.”

On-loan striker Sam Winnall suffered a similar injury in February against Brentford, and the blow came about in a comparably innocuous fashion for Olsson.

“I was trying to block a cross, but I planted my left foot and I felt a sharp pain in my knee,” he explained.

“I went down, and Robin [Sadler] said to try and sprint down the line and see how it feels, and it felt okay, a little bit sore but I kept playing.

“It was another challenge and I heard a click, but I thought that it would probably settle within a week, but the scan showed that it was the ACL.”

Olsson is also keeping an eye on the World Cup in Russia as his twin brother, Martin, is in the Sweden squad.

Marcus Olsson said: “It’s a tough group. I’m happy that he’s going to be there, it will be nice to watch him play in the World Cup.

“Sweden haven’t played in the World Cup for a while so it’s good for the country and everybody is looking forward to it.

“It won’t be easy, but anything can happen.”