Luca Waldschmidt has successful operation to repair facial fracture

After sustaining a facial fracture, concussion, knee and ankle injury in Germany’s Euro 2020 qualifier win over Belarus in Monchengladbach, SC Freiburg striker Luca Waldshmidt has had a successful operation to repair his facial fracture, per kicker. Bavarian Football Works had initially reported on the injury on Sunday:

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.

Despite the successful operation to repair the facial fracture, it remains unclear just how long Waldschmidt will be sidelined for. Per SC Freiburg, he’s expected to stay in the clinic until at least Wednesday. He also still needs to have scans on both his knee and ankle, because he still has not received an official diagnosis on either of those injuries.

The injury comes at an unfortunate time for the striker as it was only his 3rd appearance for Germany’s first team and he likely would’ve been called upon to play a part in Die Mannschaft’s final qualifier against Northern Ireland. Not to mention, he’s also been in fantastic form for Freiburg so far this season, but now faces a considerable spell on the sidelines. Joachim Low said that it was a bitter feeling to lose him (DW):

We were all shocked to see how many injuries he sustained. The surgery on his face was the first thing, next the surgeons will look at his ankle. It’s bitter for him and for us, because he was just on the field and had the ambition in him to show something. It was a great pity.

Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images

For a young player who’s showed such energy and enthusiasm in all 3 of his appearance for Germany, it’s a real shame that he had to experience such a nasty collision as a direct result of his hustle. Given that Germany have now officially qualified for Euro 2020, it’s more than likely Waldschmidt would’ve gotten another chance to impress Low with some minutes against Northern Ireland. Hopefully he recovers quickly and is able to get more appearances under his belt for Germany.