Bayern Munich defender, Niklas Suele, has torn a cruciate ligament and is expected to be sidelined for several months in a blow also for the German national team.
Bayern Sunday confirmed the injury to Suele’s left knee after he fell awkwardly in the early minutes of the 2-2 draw at Augsburg on Saturday.
The 24-year-old centre back will undergo surgery on Sunday, the club said.
Bayern lost an opportunity to go top of the Bundesliga after conceding a goal to Augsburg in stoppage time. They travel to play Olympiakos on Tuesday in the Champions League.
Germany coach, Joachim Loew, said the injury was a “real blow” for Suele and wished him a speedy recovery.
“He’s a real loss for us too though, and certainly affects the ongoing development of our young team,” he said.
“Niklas is one of the faces of this new generation and was no doubt a central figure in our planning.”
Suele has been a regular starter for Germany, and with a cruciate ligament injury often meaning six months on the sidelines, the defender is now facing a race against time to recover in time for Euro 2020 if Germany qualify as expected.
“I’m confident that he will work his way back into the team, but we won’t be putting any pressure on him whatsoever and will support him as best we can,” Loew said.
“The most important thing for now is that the operation goes well.”
Bayern coach also lamented the loss of three points after Augsburg scored after 27 seconds through Marco Richter and then snatched a stoppage-time equalizer from Alfred Finnbogason in a match Bayern controlled.
The result follows a 2-1 home defeat to Hoffenheim before the international break.
“We got off to a bad start. We mustn’t let that happen, we had addressed it before the match,” Kovac said.
“We must be alert from the start and not only after five minutes. Then we were in control, we had the ball and big chances but failed to take them. If so, we mustn’t concede another goal.”
Serge Gnabry, who set up Robert Lewandowski’s header for Bayern’s equalizer before scoring himself with a shot from the edge of the area, said: “We put the last match against Hoffenheim behind us. We were fresh and turned in a superb performance; we were always in control.
“Towards the end we had two gilt-edged chances and it would have been over if we had taken them. But we’ve thrown it away.”
Bayern are now in a similar position to 12 months ago when Kovac’s position was being questioned and Bayern bosses were cautious in giving him a vote of confidence.
With four wins from eight games and 15 points, Bayern are in their worst position after eight games since the autumn of 2010 under Louis van Gaal, who was dismissed before the end of the season.
