Wataru Endo reduced to tears by Liverpool fans as he shares injury agony

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Wataru Endo has opened up on the serious ankle injury suffered during Liverpool's win at Sunderland and his hopes of returning for the Champions League final and World Cup

Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo(Image: ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP via Getty Images)

Wataru Endo has spoken candidly about the severe ankle injury that has jeopardised his World Cup ambitions - and is setting his sights on a comeback for Liverpool in the Champions League final at the conclusion of next month.

Endo has been sidelined since requiring surgery following an injury to his left ankle sustained during the Premier League victory at Sunderland in February.

The midfielder travelled back to Japan for an operation to have an artificial ligament inserted to rectify the damage, and last month returned to the AXA Training Centre to commence his rehabilitation program.

With the World Cup approaching in the summer, Japan national team skipper Endo is resolute in demonstrating his fitness ahead of the tournament by assisting Liverpool in the Champions League decider in Budapest on May 30.

"It was a ligament injury, one that connects one bone to another, and it had completely gone," said Endo. "Then I decided to fix it. I had two options, to put a plate in the my foot to connect one bone to another, and then another two so four bones had to be connected.

"The second was to put an artificial ligament and I have chosen the second one. It's easier to have because if I had a plate I'd have had to take it out after three months.

"The doctor in the UK said if I played with the plate in the World Cup, then maybe after World Cup I'd need to take it out and then I'd have another three months out. This artificial ligament only takes three months.

"I decided to do the surgery in Japan. I was thinking if I want to play in the World Cup, it would be the best for me.

"I'm hoping to play in the World Cup. My target is the last weekend of May - the national team has a game then (against Iceland on May 31) or we have a Champions League final! I hope we can make it. At least I have something to achieve - I'm motivated by that."

Endo was making his maiden Premier League start of the campaign at right-back when he sustained the injury at the Stadium of Light while executing a crucial defensive clearance during the second half of Liverpool's 1-0 victory.

Speaking on Kodansha's Red Machine podcast, the 33 year old explained: "I was waiting quite a while to start a Premier League game. It wasn't in the position I always play but I just wanted to help the team as we had a lot of injured players.

"I thought I'd played well then unfortunately I got injured. But at least I could show myself.

"If I didn't get injured then maybe I could have played more games than before, because we've had a lot of injuries and the manager has started to make decisions to change more players. Defensively I could help more too. But it's not hard for me to support the players now." Reflecting on the incident, Endo recalled: "I was thinking (that) I couldn't play anymore. (I got up) because Robbo (Andy Robertson) told me 'we have to defend this corner so if you can just try to do it and then after we defend the corner you go down again'.

"It was painful. The doctor asked me if I could stand up and walk off the pitch but I said no and I was crying a little bit. I was not crying because it was painful, it was because our fans were singing my song and that means a lot to me."