SCS | 0.53% | 13.21 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.52% | 24.79 | $ | |
NGG | -1.41% | 67.19 | $ | |
BCC | -3.38% | 142.2 | $ | |
AZN | -0.37% | 78.02 | $ | |
BP | 1.25% | 31.32 | $ | |
JRI | -0.15% | 13.15 | $ | |
GSK | -0.64% | 38.96 | $ | |
BTI | -1.22% | 35.37 | $ | |
RIO | -1.32% | 65.09 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.52% | 25.02 | $ | |
RBGPF | 0.69% | 60.92 | $ | |
BCE | 0.03% | 33.49 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0.68% | 7.4 | $ | |
RELX | 0.91% | 48.59 | $ | |
VOD | -1.23% | 9.73 | $ |
Germany starlet Wirtz out 'for months' with torn knee ligaments
Florian Wirtz will be sidelined for "several months" after the teenage Germany midfielder suffered a serious knee injury Sunday as Bayer Leverkusen lost 1-0 at home to Cologne in the Rhine derby.
Wirtz, 18, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during a first-half challenge and was stretchered off in clear distress.
The attacking midfielder "will therefore be out for several months", Leverkusen said in a statement after giving the diagnosis.
He will miss Germany's friendlies against Israel and the Netherlands later this month and faces a race against time to be fit for the World Cup in Qatar which kicks off in November.
Wirtz's injury capped a bad day for Leverkusen as Cologne's Kingsley Schindler came off the bench to volley in a superb second-half winner for his first Bundesliga goal.
The loss of Wirtz is a serious blow to Leverkusen with their top-scoring Czech striker Patrik Schick already sidelined by a torn calf.
Leverkusen are third in Germany's top flight, 15 points behind league leaders Bayern Munich who were held to a 1-1 draw at Hoffenheim on Saturday.
This is Leverkusen's second straight defeat after losing to Atalanta in their Europa League last 16, first-leg tie on Thursday.
Cologne are seventh in the table as Steffen Baumgart's visitors out-thought and out-muscled Leverkusen.
The hosts lost three players in the first half of a bruising derby.
Leverkusen's Dutch defender Jeremie Frimpong had to be helped off with a leg injury after a crunching tackle before Wirtz left on a stretcher.
Leverkusen centre-back Odilon Kossounou also went off injured just before half-time.
(T.Burkhard--BBZ)