Football

Varane on retirement: "A sword of Damocles hung over my right knee since I was 20"

Former defender for Real Madrid, Manchester United, and the French national team, Raphaёl Varane, has shared how injuries led to his retirement from professional football.

"Since the age of 20, I’ve played with a sword of Damocles hanging over my right knee.

Managing pressure, knowing my body, knowing when to push the machine, I’ve mastered it perfectly. But over the last three years, I’ve only injured my left knee.

My right knee had become strong, but less mobile, and my left knee did everything, for power, starts, and impulses. Physically, this injury made me go back into a spiral, and the balance between sacrifices and pleasure was no longer balanced," Varane said in an interview with The Standard.

Raphaёl Varane announced his retirement on September 25. Last summer, the 31-year-old defender left Manchester United and joined Como as a free agent but suffered a knee injury in his debut match for the Italian club.

During his illustrious career, Varane won the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup four times each, became a three-time Spanish champion, and claimed three UEFA Super Cups, three Super Cups, one Copa del Rey, the FA Cup, and the English League Cup. With the French national team, the defender won the World Cup in 2018 and the Nations League in 2021.