Rangers stopper Filip Helander insists he will be fit for Euro 2020 after revealing he's spent most of his career taking painkillers in a battle against injuries.
The Sweden international was ruled out for the last chunk of the season after suffering from a knee injury with the former Bologna man last playing at the end of April.
He was named in the Swedish squad for Euro 2020 where they will play Spain in Seville, followed by Slovakia and Poland in St Petersburg and faces a race against time to make the tournament.
But the stopper, who was a key player for Steven Gerrard, insisted he is confident he will make it after admitting injuries have been a huge source of frustration to him in his career.
Speaking on a Swedish podcast, he said: "When you hurt yourself, you do not know how bad it will be, but I felt optimistic pretty quickly.
"Now I'm actually not worried at all. The physio feels things have gone much better in recent weeks, I have been able to do a lot. I'm very optimistic I'll make it.
"We have had ongoing communication with the coaching staff about my progress and of course, they have had contact with Rangers as well.
"It's the worst thing for a player to be injured. You go to training every day where it feels like you are not getting anywhere. You miss match after match.
"Personally, I have had a lot of injuries. Minor injuries that have taken four to six weeks. It is clearly something you want to get rid of. But all bodies are different. You have to accept it somewhere.
"Very often I have to push myself to play through an injury. I have basically taken tablets before most matches since I was 20.
"Painkillers, although in Italy there were syringes and so on.
"You have to take a risk somewhere and I want to play. You have to trust that it will not make it worse.
"I have no idea if I will have to take them before the Euros. The hope is that I will be so much better that it will not be needed.
"I have been injured before and it has gone well when I came back from it. But you do miss the match tempo when you are out."
