Thursday, April 22, 2021 at 9:05 AM• Rian Rosendaal

For Eljero Elia, the final phase of this season is all about gaining the necessary competition rhythm. The now 34-year-old wing attacker recently returned against Feyenoord (1-2 defeat) after a period of three months full of injuries. Elijah wants old-fashioned flames again and Thursday evening is the ideal opportunity for that. Utrecht is facing leader Ajax in the Johan Cruijff ArenA.

“I just want to show what I can do. I just know that I still have it in my body”, the still eager Elia concludes in the run-up to the meeting with Ajax in an interview with The Telegraph. In the previous game with the Amsterdam club, the 5-4 lost cup encounter, the winger still had a basic place. A short time later, however, in the duel with FC Groningen just after the winter break, things went wrong. A hamstring injury kept the routine aside for months. “I had a nine-centimeter tear in my hamstring. I knew I really had to rest for this or it would come back.”

Elia is looking for causes for the months of setbacks. “A lot has happened in a short time. First the championship in Turkey (with Istanbul Basaksehir, ed.), Then I got corona and then my daughter ended up in intensive care. Everything came together, it became too much for my body. I had never experienced such a serious muscle injury like this before “, said the attacker who returned to the Netherlands last year, who hopes that trainer René Hake will let him start against Ajax. “For me it is certainly an option to start against Ajax, but I don’t know if it is also an option for the trainer.”

After these seasons, the Utrecht player will think carefully about his future as a player, even though his contract in De Galgenwaard will continue for another year. “Of course I had setbacks, but that is also part of football. There are also players who have been injured throughout their careers and I only experience this when I was 34.” Another year full of injuries, Elia does not like it at all. “For me it is important that I can play. When you experience so many things, you start thinking. How will it continue? When am I going to stop as a footballer? What do I want to do next? You are working on those kinds of questions.”