He still stands by that claim, but now sees his smooth recovery and imminent return to first team action with Melbourne Victory as a 'present’.
After playing for 12 teams over the previous six years, in Europe and in his native Brazil, before joining the Victory in 2012, Guilherme "Gui" Finkler said he was just starting to feel at home in Melbourne when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament.
"It's overseas, it's far away from my family and everything, so it's only me and my wife here, and we were just starting to enjoy the city, I was starting to enjoy playing,” he says.
He’d registered eight assists in his first 12 games, more than even his much-lauded teammate Marco Rojas at that stage, and becoming a crucial part of the team.
Eight months on and Finkler has been given the all clear to return to match action, and he played a half against Newcastle in mid-week.
“It’s pretty amazing. Even just training full sessions, it’s a big reward now when I look back to when I got injured,” he says. “It was a pretty hard time for me, so it’s a present to be outside and playing football. That’s what I’ve been doing all my life.”
The round one Melbourne Derby is firmly in his sights – then, the title.
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