Owen Relishes 'First Step'

After so long on the sidelines, Owen Hargreaves was elated to be back in action for United Reserves. MUTV's Mark Sullivan caught up with the United midfielder for an exclusive dressing-room chat at Moss Lane after his 45 minute cameo...

Owen, finally you got onto the pitch... how did it feel?
It was lovely to be back in a team environment. It's been about 16 months, I think, while I've been having surgery and individual rehab, so having team-mates around you, getting used to playing on a bigger pitch and having opponents was great. It's been a very long time and it was great to do that first step.

It's the first step on the road to recovery, but an important one psychologically to get out on the pitch and play in a competitive match...
Absolutely. I don't think I could have anticipated the rehab and the whole thing taking as long as it has. It's been incredibly frustrating but I guess you just have to deal with it, take it step by step, try to be patient and and try to do what's best. Sometimes you can't force things. Today was the first step and hopefully I can kick on from here.

There's a lot of work you have to do in your rehab, isn't there?
A lot of training on your own, lot of fitness work and this hard work is starting to pay off now... can you see light at the end of the tunnel?Well it's been an incredibly long 16 months! I've invested a lot of time and so have a lot of people who have become very close to me as well. They've helped me a lot. But it has been a lot more time than I
potentially would have expected just to be available for the squad, so I'm looking forward to getting back into a more normal training pattern and hopefully get back to playing some games.

And you can see by the number of fans that have turned up here tonight how much they want to see you back in a United shirt.
That's got to be pleasing for you, to see them?Well the reception has been fantastic. It's been disappointing for me, really. I came and we had a good first season and I came back early to do some training to hopefully be fit for the start of my second season and it just didn't work; it had an adverse affect to it and it just snowballed from there. The fans have been great. Always when they see me they ask when I'm going to be playing and tell me they want to see me play. I've been doing my utmost to be able to play, so I look forward to being able to run out on Old Trafford again in front of the fans and being able to repay the faith the fans have shown.

So what's the next step for you now?
Well I think I'm doing some injections, actually, which is part of my training and part of the whole protocol, so I think we'll try and get as much training in me as possible with this treatment and just continue on as I have. Obviously this was the first step and from here we should try to progress and go further. That's the plan.

And do you think first team football between now and the end of the season is a possibility for you?
I would like to think so, absolutely. That's what I'm aiming for. I'm not coming back just to be back, I want to come back and have just as much of an impact as I did in my first season. It means a lot to me, so those are my targets and it will happen when time's ready.

First and foremost we want to see you in a red shirt, but there's a World Cup at the end of the season - is that a realistic possiblity?
A lot of people talk about it and it's obviously a topic. You know... we'll just see. I just have to take it day by day. In a perfect world, obviously I'd love to be a part, but I have to do what's best for me, best for Man United and then England. Then we'll see. Obviously it's something I would like to be able to do and I'll just see how I progress in the next month.