Status: 01/27/2022 1:43 p.m
National team captain Alexandra Popp has to take another long break shortly after her comeback. The VfL Wolfsburg footballer underwent another operation on his right knee on Thursday.
Wolfsburg coach Tommy Stroot put the downtime at “four to six weeks”. It was only last Sunday that the 30-year-old made her first appearance in a friendly against league rivals Eintracht Frankfurt (1-2) after an injury break of almost nine months. After the game, “there was a reaction in Popps Knie that none of us expected,” Stroot explained.
Surgical decision “consciously made”
Popp had “pain symptoms in the affected knee. An MRI scan diagnosed a loose cartilage fragment that had to be surgically removed,” said a club statement. “We know she’ll be back in four to six weeks,” Stroot said. He was happy to “have her back in the important English weeks” and “consciously made the decision to have the surgery now”.
Hope for EM participation
If Popp is actually ready for action again after six weeks at the latest, she would also have the chance to take part in the European Championship. The tournament in England (July 6th to 31st) was a big goal for Popp before her comeback.
“You could say the message gave me a short stride, but it goes on,” Popp wrote on Instagram from the hospital. “I survived the surgery very well and now I hope and pray that this plague will end.” She will work again “to be back on the pitch soon, because that was a wonderful feeling”.
VfL Wolfsburg will play their first competitive game after the winter break on Saturday (2 p.m.) with the Bundesliga catch-up game at Turbine Potsdam.
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