"It's the first time I have seen the incident again, I think I have pinpointed the moment in which I hurt myself," he said. "What makes me hopeful is that it wasn't too hard a blow. I lost a lot of blood and I can understand now why I felt as if I was going to faint. I remained on the ground right after suffering the blow, I tried to tranquilise the referee and then I tried to pick myself up because I could hear the fans booing - they thought I stayed down on purpose. Unfortunately there was nothing else I could do but walk back to the dressing room, but I already knew what happened to me wasn't good.

"It's hard to tell you what I felt in the changing room, the coach told me I had to play the second half but I replied that I couldn't. At that point they understood it wasn't a good thing for me. As the minutes went by my muscle kept swelling up. To be honest, I couldn't wait for them to put me to sleep when we arrived back in Italy. I was in so much pain, that I had never felt before, and I was hoping it would end. Professors Benazzo and Combi acted promptly and made an immediate decision as to what was the best thing to do. I felt incredible pain. In the plane I was twisting from the pain and I thought of when my wife said giving birth is the greatest pain a person can feel. I thought I was close - it was a bit like I had given birth as well.

"I think the best thing to do now is walk because it helps the lymph move and not settle. And I hope I can remove all this stuffing from the muscle. I don't know if it's coagulated blood or an infection, but in about ten days time we will see what it is and take the right action. However, I want to say that I consider myself a very lucky person. With an internal haemorrhage I was risking my career, and deciding to take a plane was a hard decision to make. But it went well. I wanted to come back home immediately and I knew I would be in good hands. Staying there would have delayed the operation and there would have been the risk of muscle necrosis. So I consider myself fortunate.

"I'm pleased with what I have done and with what I will do to recover. I want to thank all those who have written in to my site, and not just the Interisti. This does credit to me and also to them. I have only been able to write one thank you letter because physically I couldn't reply to each person. It's true that I wrote 'thanks, I won't disappoint you'. As long as my legs allow me to, I never will do."

Materazzi will be out of action for a while but in the meantime Inter began the 2007/08 Serie A season with a stalemate against Udinese. "There's always too much talk after a draw," the defender said. "They're all lying in wait for us but we have to show our strength in these moments when everyone is attacking us. And this is what we will do."