Ricardo Carvalho came through his first 45 minutes of club football this summer on Sunday, and immediately admitted he was feeling the effects.
The Portuguese defender only returned to training last Monday after three weeks off following his World Cup exploits, where he was one of his country's outstanding performers before their second round elimination by Spain.
Against Eintracht Frankfurt yesterday, he was a half-time substitute as Carlo Ancelotti gave vital game time to each of his nine returning World Cup men. Their afternoon was made harder by a soft pitch that quickly cut up.
Asked afterwards how he was feeling, Carvalho said: 'Good, it has been a hard week with double sessions every day, so it is normal to feel a bit more tired than usual but we are getting fit.
'I think we could play much better but the pitch was a little bit difficult, you could feel it during the game, and we made a mistake with the penalty and they scored, so I think we should have had a draw at least.'
Frankfurt's Bundesliga season commences this coming weekend, and so it is to be expected that they are a yard or so sharper than our boys, whose Premier League campaign begins in 12 days' time against West Bromwich Albion, but Carvalho felt this was not the case in the Commerzbank Arena.
'I am not sure if Frankfurt were fitter, both teams played more or less at the same level, I think we could play better but so could they, and in the end they were a little bit lucky with the penalty,' he explained.
'For us now the next game is on Wednesday, and I look forward to it and improving my condition, and for the team it is time to get results, to start to win and to play better.'
The Portuguese defender only returned to training last Monday after three weeks off following his World Cup exploits, where he was one of his country's outstanding performers before their second round elimination by Spain.
Against Eintracht Frankfurt yesterday, he was a half-time substitute as Carlo Ancelotti gave vital game time to each of his nine returning World Cup men. Their afternoon was made harder by a soft pitch that quickly cut up.
Asked afterwards how he was feeling, Carvalho said: 'Good, it has been a hard week with double sessions every day, so it is normal to feel a bit more tired than usual but we are getting fit.
'I think we could play much better but the pitch was a little bit difficult, you could feel it during the game, and we made a mistake with the penalty and they scored, so I think we should have had a draw at least.'
Frankfurt's Bundesliga season commences this coming weekend, and so it is to be expected that they are a yard or so sharper than our boys, whose Premier League campaign begins in 12 days' time against West Bromwich Albion, but Carvalho felt this was not the case in the Commerzbank Arena.
'I am not sure if Frankfurt were fitter, both teams played more or less at the same level, I think we could play better but so could they, and in the end they were a little bit lucky with the penalty,' he explained.
'For us now the next game is on Wednesday, and I look forward to it and improving my condition, and for the team it is time to get results, to start to win and to play better.'
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