Germany starlet Wirtz out 'for months' with torn knee ligaments
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.
O.Wagner--MP
