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5th September 2023
03:14pm BST
“I had a back injury. It came out of nowhere, the day before the game. I couldn’t move, my back was locked. I worked with the physio until three in the morning to try to make it better. We tried everything and I didn’t sleep at all because it was so stressful. All I was thinking was, ‘Can I play?’
“On the morning of the game, I was still in pain. I spoke to the coach and he told me, ‘You have to play, we need you, it’s the World Cup, your country needs you’. It was not an option for me not to play. But I was scared of letting anyone down with my performance.
“I didn’t know how I was going to do it. I hadn’t slept, I felt tired, I had back pain. I did the warm-up and I was still not good. So I told the coach again, ‘I want to play, but as long as you know you may have to change me after 10 minutes’.
“I had an injection and when I heard the referee’s whistle I just forgot everything. I played like crazy. It was 120 minutes because the game went to extra time. I ran 15 kilometres, the most of everyone on the pitch.”
Amrabat could make his United debut against Brighton at Old Trafford on September 16.
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