The defender experienced a difficult 17 months when he was out with a knee injury.
Malacia had to undergo two operations, as the first one was not fully successful.
He is now back in action and played 45 minutes for United's Under-21s against Huddersfield Town.
Speaking in a new interview with The Athletic, Malacia revealed: “I was like, ‘I’m staying down here and you guys just enjoy it, then I’ll see you in the dressing room’.
“(Casemiro) was like, ‘Nah, you have to go up there as well’. And if someone with that kind of experience tells you that, you’re listening.”
He added that his other teammates shared that opinion, stating: “They said, ‘At the end of the day, you’re still part of the team’. I’ve been in a dressing room the whole season and seen everything.
“They know how hard I’ve been working every day to come back to the team and everything, so they said you deserve it as much as we do.”
He added on getting the winners’ medal: “Like I said before: if he gives you that, you just listen!”