As he went through the difficult rehabilitation programme after suffering a career-threatening knee injury, Mamelodi Sundowns defender Mothobi Mvala feared the worst.

He has come through four competitive matches unscathed and coach Miguel Cardoso is expected to turn to him against Algerian side USM Alger in the Caf Super Cup at Loftus on Saturday.

Mvala hardly set his foot wrong at central defence since his long-awaited return that is timely because Cardoso is without recovering Grant Kekana and Keanu Cupido.

As Sundowns prepared for the clash against USM Alger, Mvala reflected on his difficult recovery journey where he often doubted whether he would be able to play again.

“To be honest, the doubts sometimes come to mind and they hit you hard. It is for the first time I did surgery and I sometimes I found myself asking if I would ever come back to the game,” said Mvala.

“I asked myself if I was going to be the same Mthobi Mvala when I came back but my family was there for me.”

Mvala learned from the experience of players who suffered the same injury.

“Our physiotherapists encouraged me to watch a lot of documentaries. I watched stories of guys who suffered similar injuries in England.

“I also watched the documentary of Alphonso Davies of Bayern Munich, who had a similar injury and they helped me a lot. They gave me hope that I would go back to the field because at some stages I was really woried.

“It was not an easy injury and it’s not something that I wish on someone.”

Mvala said he had fears of getting injured again when he returned to the field but grew in confidence as matches went by.

“Our medical team make sure you are ready when you come back to training and start kicking the ball again. When they give you to the coach, they know that you are ready because they take you through a couple of tests to make sure you don’t feel pain.

“In your first training competitive training session, you will have that thing of being scared to tackle. But one or two tackles gives you confidence and you are no longer scared.

“I remember when I came back, I made a tackle in training and everyone was scared. It takes one 50-50 tackle to get you back into the game and being strong and not to be scared.

“I am happy to be back in the game after a long time and it was not an easy journey. I wanted to be there and help the team and share memories with the guys.

Mvala said he kept a positive mindset even though it was difficult.

“I was positive and the medical team helped me a lot. They kept on motivating me that there were many players who suffered a similar injury but managed to come back.

“Lebo Mothiba was there for me because he once suffered a similar injury. Every time I was feeling something on my knee I told him and he said it’s normal and part of the process.

“I kept myself busy by watching my previous games and watching lots of football. When I came back, the coach made sure that I played a lot of friendlies.

“At some point I was travelling with the team when they were going to play in the Champions League, just to be there with the team.

“That gave me motivation and energy to know that I am part of the group. I was not feeling like I am an outsider or people are not thinking of me.

“That really helped me and kudos to the coach for putting me in the squad while I was injured.”