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Riccardo Calafiori emotional three-word Arsenal message explained after 'unique' injury

Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori during their 2-0 win over PSG.
-Credit: (Image: Photo by Ryan Pierse - UEFA/Getty Images)


Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori has celebrated his rise to becoming a Champions League player following a horror injury during his formative years at Serie A side AS Roma.

The 22-year-old made the move to the Premier League in the summer, with Mikel Arteta's side winning the race to sign the defender, following reports of interest from top-flight rivals Liverpool. The centre-back impressed at Bologna during their record-breaking season under Thiago Motta and offered glimpses of his quality during Italy's European Championships defence in the summer.

After a period of transition, the Spanish tactician has entrusted Calafiori in the starting berth at left-back as he was handed his full debut in the early season title showdown with Manchester City, where he scored the equaliser during the dramatic 2-2 draw. Since then, he has started in each of the last two, including Tuesday's win over Paris Saint-Germain at the Emirates Stadium.

Celebrating his achievement in making his European debut at the home of the Gunners, Calafiori posted to his Instagram story saying: "Never give up," with two pictures, one showing the Italian stricken by injury and the other from the 2-0 triumph on Tuesday night.

Riccardo Calafiori's Instagram story on Wednesday, October 2.
Riccardo Calafiori's Instagram story on Wednesday, October 2. -Credit:RichyCala/Instagram

The images show the level of commitment and effort that Calafiori has put in to become a Premier League and international footballer after suffering a horror injury in 2018. The problem was that severe; it was described as an injury that you would typically see from a motocross accident.

The Arsenal defender was on the receiving end of a horror tackle from Vaclav Svoboda of Viktoria Plzen during a UEFA Youth League game as a 16-year-old. The right knee was said to be so swollen that it was three times the size of his left.

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"Something like this usually only happens in motocross - not in football," a medic told the Italian news outlet Corriere dello Sport at the time. "It's an injury that happens only once every 10 years."

At the time, Calafiori issued a defiant message in order to overcome the adversity to fulfil his dream of becoming a professional footballer. "The time has come to truly bring out everything that I have inside," he wrote on Instagram at the time.

"This time, no decisive match, no final to win... There is the most important battle of my life ahead of me, and I certainly cannot back down. The time has come to put aside the boy, the, at times, little boy that I have been until now, and become a MAN.

"A bad knee injury will keep me sidelined for a long period and will keep me away from the pitch, but the desire to come back STRONGER than before will increase every day. For the umpteenth time I find myself faced with a very difficult challenge but, as always, I will win!!!"