It's fair to say that Celtic fans expected much more from a player who had cost Italian giants AC Milan £10m when he was bought from Atalanta in 2001 but it's also fair to say that he's not had his troubles to seek since arriving at Celtic Park. A broken toe and an ankle injury were just the latest misfortunes suffered by Massimo Donati in what has been a stop-start season for the ex-Milan player but he believes that the amount of games still to be played in all three domestic competitions is a major bonus as he bids to return to the team. "When the season started, I wasn't in the team all of the time." he said "But in the three games before my toe injury, I felt I took my chance. I won a couple of Man of the Match awards and the Manager was happy with me."
"I had been playing a lot more regularly and I was gaining confidence." continued Donati "Then I got injured and it was hard to take. I had waited for my chance and took it, but it all counted for nothing. To break my toe would have been bad enough. But to do it in a training session was even worse. I had been offered a day off, but I wanted to work hard. Then I ended up breaking my toe in a nothing tackle. I tried to get back early and ended up hurting my ankle and it was too sore to play. I faced another month out. That wasn't ideal, but now my ankle is better and I no longer feel any pain from it." 
- training hard
He was delighted to play against Queens Park in the recent Homecoming Scottish Cup tie against the men from Hampden but not quite so pleased with his performance on the day. "I am happy to be back playing, but I wasn't happy with the way I played against Queen's Park." he said "However, after being out for two months, it's never easy to come back."
"I just need to train hard and try to get back to the level of before." continued Massimo "It's all about training and trying to get your fitness back. It might take a few weeks but I'll get there. It was difficult to watch the games because I live for football. When you are not playing, it's hard. It's never nice. This is my job. I play for Celtic and I want to help the team win trophies. When you are injured and helpless, it is not easy."
Celtic are still two points clear at the top of the league but by the time they travel to Motherwell on Sunday they could quite feasibly find themselves behind Rangers in the SPL table if the Huns, as expected, beat Kilmarnock on Saturday. But Massimo insists that the squad are determined to keep the trophy that they've won for the last three years. "We want to win the league. We want to make it four titles in a row," he said "but we also want to challenge for the other two cups. It would mean a lot to have success in those tournaments."
Massimo knows it's going to be difficult to break through into the starting eleven again but says he'll put in the required graft "It won't be easy to get back into the team because we have a lot of very good midfield players." he said, "But, what can I do? I just need to work hard. Nobody likes sitting on the bench, but I just have to be patient. It's good that we have so many games left and I am happy that we are still in the three domestic competitions. Last season, we did well in the Champions League, but when that was over we only had the league to think about. This time, we have much more to look forward to."