Arsenal full-back on turning to alcohol while battling injuries

It is not strange to hear professional footballers open up about their struggles, what ever the reason for those struggles might be. And it is encouraging to see more and more athletes speak about their troubles and seek help.

Spanish defender Hector Bellerin had his share of bad luck when it comes to injuries. A number of such issues made him turn to alcohol and try to drink away the emotional and physical pain.

The 26-year-old full-back has been hit with unfortunate injury problems in recent years, with a cruciate ligament rupture followed by hamstring issues making him miss the majority of action in 2019.

There are suggestions that he could leave in the summer as this season he has been in and out of Mikel Arteta's team.

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In an interview on the Timsby YouTube channel, Bellerin revealed that he struggled to face his situation of being constantly sidelined.

"It was the first time that I had got injured like that, and I had friends and teammates that had gone through it before, I had my family next to me, but I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen to me," he said.

"I talk about an experience when I came back and I wasn’t really training, and I started going out a lot, I started drinking and all this stuff and you know for a footballer that’s not what you’re supposed to say but it’s the truth.

"We have our issues, we have our mental health problems. And when football, which is basically your identity gets taken out of you, we find it difficult.

"Obviously London is a town that offers a lot of distractions and it’s really easy when you don’t feel you have a responsibility – obviously I knew I had to recover, but I didn’t have to train or play – my mind kind of just went elsewhere."

It is crucial to receive proper help in such times and Bellerin had exactly that. The Spaniard feels grateful for those who helped him in his journey to recover.

"I was lucky enough to have players and coaches who knew what I was doing, and they said ‘look Hector, that’s not the right way to do it’, and I felt so lucky about that." he added.

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"But also I’m not ashamed of it, I feel like it’s what happened to me and it’s just the way I was feeling and for me that was the best way of coping with my feelings, which is obviously not the best anyway, you don’t help anything, you just delay it.

"But that’s how I felt like doing then, and I thought I could get away with it and I learned so much from it. Now the last thing I do when I have an injury is drink because I know how bad that is. Sometimes you just don’t care or it’s difficult."