DORTMUND (dpa-AFX) - Borussia Dortmund captain Emre Can is facing a potentially lengthy absence following his injury in the Bundesliga top match against FC Bayern Munich (2:3). The doctor had "a bad feeling" after the initial examination, said coach Niko Kovac on Sky.
When asked whether it was a cruciate ligament injury, Kovac replied: "It looks a bit like that. That's how it is, and he also heard something." Should the cruciate ligament injury and long absence be confirmed, "then it's another really hard blow for us," Kovac said.
"That makes me really sentimental," the BVB coach later added. The Dortmund captain's contract expires at the end of the season. Can injured his left knee towards the end of the first half. The Germany international initially did not want to be substituted and returned to the field.
"He continued playing, and I think the second action unfortunately finished him off," said Kovac, who substituted his defender in stoppage time of the first half.
"I asked him, and the doctors didn't know what was going on either. They wanted to examine him, but he said: I'll keep going. As a doctor, there's nothing more you can say," Kovac defended BVB's medical staff.
Whether Can will be available for the national team's first matches of the year at the end of March in Switzerland and against Ghana is highly doubtful. In the case of a cruciate ligament tear, participation in the World Cup this summer would be impossible./jso/DP/zb
