Signs point to severe ankle injury for Florian Wirtz
Defending Bundesliga champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen found themselves unexpectedly upset by struggling SV Werder Bremen in a Saturday afternoon fixture. Xabi Alonso's Werkself inability to make up ground in a title race already out of their grasp wasn't the worst news, however. The loss of German phenom Florian Wirtz just 14 minutes after being subbed on to start the second half constituted a huge blow.
Wirtz left the BayArena on crutches after suffering an ankle injury. With noticeable concern plaguing his face, Xabi simply insisted that he had no information on Wirtz when speaking to Sky Germany after the full-time whistle. Later at the post match press conference, Xabi spoke on the scope of the loss.
'It just wasn't good from us today,' Xabi noted. 'It really hurts, especially with Flo [Wirtz] out. We have to forget this game as quickly as possible. We were far too hectic and never had control. Bremen's first goal rattled us. We had a decent spell in the second half, but overall it wasn't good enough.'
Given the nature of the injury, Wirtz's availability for the second leg of the Champions League fixture against Bayern can likely be scratched. Leverkusen already find themselves highly disadvantaged following Wednesday's result. Wirtz might also miss out on representing Germany during the forthcoming international break.
GGFN | Peter Weis
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