Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof has revealed that he carried on playing through the pain barrier in the opening exchanges of this season after suffering a broken toe while on international duty in September.
The centre-back, who has made just nine Premier League appearances this term, made the admission after experiencing some tightening during Sweden's 5-0 win over Azerbaijan in their latest European Championship qualifier on Monday night. Lindelof started and played the full 90 minutes as Janne Andersson's side secured their first win of their qualifying campaign.
Despite concluding the full contest, Lindelof, according to a report by Aftonbladet, 'received treatment' after the full-time whistle. And the defender, who will turn 29 in July, revealed in a post-match interview that he experienced some pain during the contest, opening up on a broken toe injury that he had previously kept under wraps.
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"I broke my toe in September, and I felt it tightening out there," said Lindelof. "It was with the national team in September. I got a stamp so I broke it.
"It hurt for a while, I had to take some painkillers. I could play, but only had a size bigger on the shoe."
Lindelof's starting berth against Azerbaijan was his second in as many games for Sweden, after starting Friday night's 3-0 defeat to Belgium. Opportunities have been hard to come by for the defender at Old Trafford this season, making just 21 appearances in all competitions.
Ahead of the beginning of this current international break, Lindelof addressed his future, admitting that he will have to consider his future at United this forthcoming summer.
He said: "Like I said, I want to play, that's why I play football, I want to play games, but I haven't thought about that [transfer away], right now I'm just focussing on the national team and then of course, the rest of the season with the club.
"Then in the summer we'll re-evaluate and see what is best."
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