Chloe Kelly reveals hilarious way she coped with ACL injury news
By Ali Rampling
Chloe Kelly has revealed that in order to deal with the emotions of suffering an ACL injury in May 2021, she got her eyelashes done the following day to prevent herself from crying anymore.
During her debut season at Manchester City and in the form of her life, Kelly sustained the injury against Birmingham in the penultimate game of the 2020/21 WSL campaign.
ACL injuries typically leave players sidelined for 9-12 months, meaning the winger missed out on a spot in Team GB’s Tokyo Olympic squad, and faced a race to be fit for Euro 2022.
“I woke up the next morning and my knee was just really stiff, I couldn’t bend my knee,” Kelly said in Believe, a new EA Sports documentary about her career and recovery from her ACL injury. “So I was like: maybe it’s nothing, maybe it’s just a bit of bone bruising.
“I was on my way home and I pulled up outside the house, and I remember the doctor calling me and I can’t remember anything in that moment other than the words: ‘it’s your ACL’. And I remember I just cried my eyes out. It was my mum’s birthday, so all my family were round my mum’s house. I remember just Facetiming them and they were all in the living room, and I just burst into tears.
“The next day I went to get my eye lashes done. It sounds stupid but [I thought] right, I’ve had my eyelashes done now, I’m not allowed to cry anymore. That was my way of just being like: I’m not crying anymore. It sounds crazy but I needed to get over it and tears weren’t going to do anything, it wasn’t going to fix it.”
In February 2022, while still rehabbing from her injury, Kelly put pen to paper on a new three-year contract at Manchester City.
The 24-year-old went on to make her return to action from the bench against West Ham in April, and she made her first start two weeks later in the FA Cup semi-finals, marking the occasion with a goal.
Kelly finished the 2021/22 campaign with two goals and three assists in seven appearances, doing enough to impress England boss Sarina Wiegman and earn herself a spot in the Euro 2022 squad.
The winger would go on to net the extra-time winner in the European Championship final at Wembley, guiding the Lionesses to their maiden piece of silverware and providing an iconic celebration to match - just 15 months on from suffering her ACL injury.
Kelly emphasised the importance of the long-term contract she signed at Manchester City in enabling her to be patient and not rush her rehab and return to action.
“I came to Manchester City to win everything, and I think that’s the best club to do that at,” she added. “I want to win the Champions League, I want to win the WSL and I want to be the best player I can be, but I believe this club is the one to do that. To sign such a long-term contract there, that’s why I did, because I believe in the club.
“Because I knew they had the confidence in me, I could believe in myself and to have that security it just made me not worry as much about getting back and how long it will take me to get back. It was: I’m coming back and I’ve got three-and-a-half years left here so I need to think of the bigger picture, not just the end of the season.”