The personnel concerns at Bayer Leverkusen continue: The soccer runner-up will now have to do without midfielder Ezequiel Fernández for a longer period of time.
The Argentine suffered an unspecified ligament injury in his left knee in Sunday’s Bundesliga game against SC Freiburg (2-0). According to the club, the 23-year-old is expected to miss between seven and eight weeks.
Fernández had recently been in coach Kasper Hjulmand’s starting line-up five times in a row. On Sunday he was initially treated for an unfortunate movement and had to be substituted after 67 minutes.
Bayer is currently missing other regulars: In addition to the long-term injured Exequiel Palacios and Axel Tape, Nathan Tella, Malik Tillman and Lucas Vázquez were also recently sidelined. Top striker Patrik Schick and defender Jarell Quansah were available again against Freiburg.
On Wednesday (6:00 p.m./Sky) Leverkusen will face second division club SC Paderborn in the second round of the DFB Cup, and on Saturday (6:30 p.m./Sky) the top Bundesliga game will be against Bayern Munich.