Schweinsteiger facing early end to season after knee injury

Sport360 staff 04:35 24/03/2016
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  • Injury-ravaged season: Schweinsteiger.

    Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger could miss the remainder of the season having been ruled out of Germany’s forthcoming friendly matches with a knee ligament injury.

    The 31-year-old only returned to action for the Red Devils earlier in March having spent nearly two months on the sidelines with a knee problem, missing 13 games in the process.

    The German captain came on in Sunday’s 1-0 derby win over Manchester City before linking up with Joachim Low’s squad ahead of friendlies against England and Italy. But, after a tackle at the end of training on Tuesday, Schweinsteiger missed Wednesday’s session to travel to Munich for scans on his knee.

    The German Football Association has since confirmed he has suffered a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament, immediately ruling him out of the upcoming matches and, with the midfielder now heading back to Manchester to continue his treatment, the injury is likely to keep him sidelined for much longer.

    Depending on the damage, Schweinsteiger could be out for the rest of the campaign, while he may also be left sweating on his fitness ahead of this summer’s Euro 2016.

    Low admitted: “He was injured at the end of training without any other involvement, while playing a pass.

    “It is likely to be the ligament which he had injured a few weeks ago. He is being checked out in Munich at the moment so I am not able to give an exact diagnosis but it does not look positive.”

    Schweinsteiger has made 31 appearances for United since joining from Bayern Munich last summer and scored his only goal to date in November’s 1-1 draw with current Premier League leaders Leicester.

    Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil was also absent from training after hurting his ankle in the Gunners’ 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday – with Bayer Leverkusen’s Karim Bellarabi missing due to his own foot problem.

    Meanwhile, Low says he plans to take Mario Gotze to Euro 2016 in France, despite Pep Guardiola keeping the World Cup winner on Bayern Munich’s bench.

    Gotze has failed to hold down a first-team place at Bayern in the last three years and has made just eight league appearance in an injury-ravaged campaign under Guardiola this season fuelling rumours of a summer return to Dortmund.

    Low said: “You can see he’s lacking match practice, but I will definitely count on him for the European championships.

    “It’s always worth it to support Mario, because he can do things which other players can’t do.”

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