Rennes’ Martin Terrier recalls ACL injury: “I felt my knee breaking down.”

Rennes forward Martin Terrier (26) has given a wide-ranging interview to Ouest-France, published this morning. The mercurial striker is currently on a path to recovery after sustaining a season-ending ACL and meniscus injury at the turn of the year, in a Ligue 1 home game against Nice. The former Lyon forward is arguably Rennes’ best player and one of the finest attacking players in the league. Despite having only featured for five months this season, he has 12 goals and 5 assists in 22 games played in all competitions.

Terrier recalled that fateful day in January when, after opening the scoring for the hosts, he collapsed in excruciating pain after a mistimed challenge on Nice’s Jordan Lotomba. “I wanted to stretch my leg in order to prevent my opponent from going away,” Terrier says. “And I felt my leg weakening, like a snapping rope. I immediately understood that it was something that I had never known.” Last season’s joint-third best goalscorer with 21 strikes adds that he struggles to clearly remember what happened in the wake of his injury.

Terrier explains that he immediately knew his injury was a serious one. “I felt it [his knee] let go actually. I felt my knee breaking down. Right after I fell, I looked at my knee, and I saw a blue, purple-ish and not very nice mark. It amplified my feeling that it was something serious.” Terrier adds that the first thing he did when entering Rennes’ dressing room was to call his parents to give them words of reassurance. “On TV, there were a lot of close-ups of me shouting in pain. I guess they were very worried.” Depending on the speed of his recovery, Terrier may not be match-fit for the start of the 2023-2024 Ligue 1 season.

GFFN | Bastien Cheval