Radu Dragusin explains what he learned during Tottenham comeback as James Maddison point made

Tottenham defender Radu Dragusin featured in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Leyton Orient on Wednesday

Radu Dragusin admitted it felt "really good" to return to the pitch after the Tottenham defender made his long-awaited comeback from a serious knee injury in a behind-closed-doors friendly.

The Romania international has been absent since January with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) but over the last few weeks the 23-year-old has been slowly building back up his fitness. The centre-back played 45 minutes with Tottenham Under-21s on Wednesday in a friendly against Leyton Orient in what is the latest milestone in his comeback.

It was Dragusin's first match since suffering the injury in the first half against Elfsborg on January 30. "Honestly, it felt really good," Dragusin told Tottenham's official website.

"Getting back out there with the boys, with the Under-21s, they've been great, they've been helping me, so I'm really grateful for this moment. It’s different, you can train how much you want, but once you are there in 11v11 on a big pitch, it's different, you can't really replicate it in the training.

"It’s the details like the sprints back, the adversity, the exposure that you get as a defender, it was a good day. It felt good, first minutes in 10 months out, finally minutes in the legs and I just have to build on this."

Dragusin will look to increase his workload over the next few weeks, with Thomas Frank keen to slowly reintegrate the defender into the first team. Looking back on the nine-month road to recovery, the former Genoa man believes the time out will only make him stronger.

"I learned to be patient and to never take anything for granted," he said. "Because one day you are on the top of the mountain, next second you are with this kind of injury.

"This is life, it's only to make me stronger, make me more resilient. I've never given up and things are really close to being back as normal."

James Maddison was in attendance for Dragusin's comeback match, with the Spurs midfielder sharing a warm embrace with the defender before he took to the pitch. With Maddison suffering a knee injury of his own at the start of this season, the pair became close as they worked on their recoveries together.

"Honestly everybody, but you know, especially Madders, he was there when I got injured, he always was next to me to give me a laugh in a difficult day," Dragusin said. "For him to be here next to me, it really meant a lot, because you know, this is how we are here, we are a family, we don't let anyone down in the hard moments, so I'm really grateful to be part of this group."