BERLIN - Bayern Munich midfielder Leon Goretzka will be ruled out for the rest of the season and could miss the start of Euro 2020 after picking up a thigh injury, German media reported Sunday.
Goretzka played just 10 minutes after coming on during Bayern's 6-0 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday before going off again with an apparent injury.
According to German magazine Kicker, the 26-year-old tore a thigh muscle and will now be out of action for the last two weeks of the Bundesliga season.
"The Bayern player now appears to face a race against time" to be fit for the start of the European Championship, wrote the magazine, citing sources in Munich.
Bayern are yet to confirm the report.
Germany are scheduled to play their opening group game at the delayed tournament against France on June 15 in Munich's Allianz Arena.
Goretzka has 31 caps for Germany and has become a leading player for Joachim Loew's team in recent years.
Australian midfielder Ajdin Hrustic scored a bizarre late equaliser on Sunday to give Eintracht Frankfurt a 1-1 draw with local rivals Mainz and prevent their Champions League hopes suffering a worse blow.
Hrustic managed to lob Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner while lying on the floor to score his first ever Bundesliga goal.
The draw dropped Frankfurt out of the top four for the first time since January, as they slipped a point behind Borussia Dortmund.
Having pulled seven points clear of Dortmund in April, Frankfurt have seen their Champions League prospects fade with just one win in their last four games.
"You could say the momentum is with Dortmund now. It's no longer in our hands, but everything is still possible. We have to keep believing," Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp told Sky.
- Controversy in Cologne -
Earlier Sunday, strugglers Cologne suffered another blow in their bid to avoid relegation as a disputed handball decision and a missed penalty saw them slip to a 4-1 defeat at home to Freiburg.
Friedhelm Funkel's side remain two points adrift of safety.
"It wasn't a handball for me - I don't know what a handball is anymore. It's extremely bitter, because it would have been an important point for us today," said Jonas Hector.
Defeat saw Cologne miss the chance to leapfrog Arminia Bielefeld and Hertha Berlin, who held each other to a goalless draw in Sunday's late game.
They are now level on points with both Werder Bremen and Hertha, who have a game in hand and a chance to pull clear when they play Schalke on Wednesday. - AFP. May 10, 2021
