Luca Waldschmidt fractures face, injures knee and ankle in Germany’s 4-0 win over Belarus

Germany officially secured qualification for Euro 2020 this summer with their 4-0 win over Belarus at Borussia Park in Monchengladbach. A brace from Toni Kroos and goals from Leon Goretzka and Matthias Ginter secured the three points for Die Mannschaft, but unfortunately for Joachim Low and SC Freiburg, late substitute Luca Waldschmidt had a nasty collision with Belarus goalkeeper Alyaksandr Hutar that resulted in the striker sustaining a handful of injury problems.

Per Bild, Waldschmidt suffered a facial fracture, a concussion, an ankle injury, and a knee injury. He had come on in the 84th minute to replace Serge Gnabry and was only on the pitch for a few moments before he collided with Hutar. The incident occurred in the 88th minute on the heels of some interplay between Waldschmidt and Ginter. Waldschmidt had played a square pass to Ginter, made a run into Belarus’s box, and Ginter played in a lobbed pass to try and find the striker, but Hutar came off of his line with conviction and barreled into Waldschmidt as he leaped with authority to claim the ball. Part of his injuries, particularly to his knee and ankle, were due to the awkward way his leg got caught underneath him when Hutar collided with him as his knee and ankle twisted in the wrong direction.

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Waldschmidt was rather slow to get to his feet after being assessed by Germany’s physios and it was quickly determined that he needed to be replaced for concussion protocol precautions. He was officially replaced by Sebastian Rudy in the first minute of stoppage time. As was expected after assessing the severity of Waldschmidt’s injuries, he’s withdrawn from the squad to face Northern Ireland in Germany’s last European qualifier in Frankfurt and could face a considerable spell of the sidelines for Freiburg, which is an unfortunate burden for Christian Streich to have to face.