Chris Wood's Return and Knee Injury Management
Chris Wood participated in the first half of Nottingham Forest's 1-1 draw against Porto last week.
The Nottingham Forest striker has acknowledged that he will need to manage his knee injury for the remainder of his life.
The New Zealand international has recently returned after a six-month absence and is expected to feature in Forest's Europa League quarter-final second leg against Porto.
Forest will host the Portuguese league leaders on Thursday, following last week's draw at Estadio do Dragao, where Wood started the match.
This appearance marked his first game since October of the previous year, after undergoing knee surgery in December. Wood is aware that his knee will never fully recover.
"It's a knee injury, it's going to take years of managing throughout my whole career and when I'm playing with kids, playing golf or doing whatever I do after football," said the 34-year-old.
"It's going be there. I'd say it's always got to be in your back of mind that I have to keep myself in top shape ready to go.
"A knee injury is always horrible, you never know what could happen in the future or how you are going to come back from it.
"So mentally, that's one of the tough things to deal with. But I had confidence I was always going to come back. I got very close to returning pre-surgery and it just didn't happen. That's just unfortunate."
Goals and Future Aspirations
Wood has returned with the aim of helping Nottingham Forest reach the semi-finals of the Europa League, where they would face either Aston Villa or Bologna, while also striving to maintain their Premier League status.
Additionally, Wood is targeting a place in the New Zealand squad for the upcoming World Cup, where the All Whites will compete in Group G against Iran, Egypt, and Belgium this summer.
"It wasn't a straightforward injury, we tried a few different avenues to get it right before having to go down the surgery route," Wood added. He did not feature under former manager Sean Dyche during Dyche's 114 days in charge of Forest.
"It didn't work out the way we wanted to. At least we got it now with a goal to come back to and luckily I have been able to come back with a decent amount of time [before the World Cup] so hopefully I'll be in the running."
Team Update Ahead of Porto Match
Midfielder Elliot Anderson is a doubt for the upcoming match against Porto after missing training on Wednesday.
Forest manager Vitor Pereira commented on Anderson's status:
"Today, he was not able to train," Pereira said. "He has personal problems and we have to respect [them]. We will see [about tomorrow], we need to wait."
