Joe Gomez
Liverpool defender Joe Gomez is facing nine months on the sidelines after rupturing his cruciate ligament in October Getty

Joe Gomez has admitted that his ongoing recovery process from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament injury would have been 'unbearable' if not for the presence of Danny Ings, who suffered the same fate a day after the Liverpool defender was ruled out for the rest of the season. The former Charlton star is glad to have his international teammate alongside him during their recovery process, admitting that they have been 'bouncing' off each other to remain positive.

According to the Daily Mail, Gomez is set to be sidelined for at least nine months, while Ings could return sooner. The defender started the first five Premier League games of the season under former manager Brendan Rodgers and suffered the injury just ahead of Jurgen Klopp's first game in charge midway through October 2015. He has admitted that the injury came as a big blow to both of them, but is confident that they can help each other remain motivated during the tough recovery process.

"We come in every morning, our schedule is quite set at the moment," Gomez told Goal.com.

"At first, I didn't actually realise how much of a help he'd be during whole process. My injury hadn't even properly hit me yet and Ingsy's was a day later. It was gutting for us both and tough to take."

"We didn't have time to digest it in the beginning, but there's moments now I'll be doing a session and think to myself 'imagine if I had to do all this on my own.' It would be hard to," the former Charlton defender explained.

"He's such an uplifting guy and that's exactly what you need around you. We bounce off each other really well and it's great that we can motivate each other during this period," he added.