Owen Hargreaves finally took to the field in a Manchester United jersey on Thursday after 18 months on the sidelines.
The United midfielder played 45 minutes for the reserves against Burnley, though he did not put too much physical pressure on himself.
The 29-year-old has been out for a year and a half with long-term tendinitis problems and has undergone surgery at the hands of the world-renowned Dr Richard Steadman. The former Bayern Munich man has been back in United training for some time, but his recovery was slow and several planned comebacks were put on hold, most recently last week when he had initially been expected to play in a reserve game against Manchester City.
He did finally get on the field for a half on Thursday though as United's second string beat the Clarets 2-0 with goals from Febian Brandy and Corry Evans.
After his run-out the England international told MUTV: "It was lovely to be back in a team environment. It's been about 16 months, I think, while I've been having surgery and individual rehab, so having team-mates around you, getting used to playing on a bigger pitch and having opponents was great.
"It's been a very long time and it was great to do that first step.
"I don't think I could have anticipated the rehab and the whole thing taking as long as it has. It's been incredibly frustrating but I guess you just have to deal with it, take it step by step, try to be patient and and try to do what's best. Sometimes you can't force things. Today was the first step and hopefully I can kick on from here.
"I've invested a lot of time and so have a lot of people who have become very close to me as well. They've helped me a lot. But it has been a lot more time than I potentially would have expected just to be available for the squad, so I'm looking forward to getting back into a more normal training pattern and hopefully get back to playing some games."