Horrible luck has struck Bayern Munich defender Holger Badstuber yet again.
After missing nearly two years with a pair of ACL tears, the 25-year-old has torn a tendon in his right thigh and will need surgery.
He suffered the injury just before halftime in yesterday’s match against Stuttgart, walking off under his own power but immediately requiring a substitute.
Badstuber was replaced by Gianluca Gaudino as Bayern went on to win 2-0 to stay atop the Bundesliga table with seven points.
Bayern Munich’s Twitter account released the news, saying he is “set to be out for a long period again.”
No further update on the injury or his timetable has yet been released, but the club did promise via Twitter to post an update on the official website soon.
Awful news for @Badstuber: Diagnosis of injury is a tendon tear in thigh with operation necessary. Set to be out for a long period again.
— FC Bayern Munich (@FCBayernEN) September 14, 2014
Thanks to the tear and re-tear of the ACL in his right knee, Badstuber went a total of 594 days between matches, and had just returned in May of this year.
Pep Guardiola has been playing three-at-the-back at Bayern this season, and Badstuber was playing alongside Jerome Boateng and Dante when he went down. He was replaced by a midfielder in Gaudino as Philipp Lahm dropped back in defense to temporarily cover for the injury.
Going forward, Bayern will need a more permanent solution in the back line, given that Lahm is much useful in either defensive midfield or wing-back duties. Likely, this will give new signing Mehdi Benatia a real chance to state his case for an extended run in the first team.
Back in 2010, then-Bayern Munich manager Louis van Gaal called Badstuber “best left-footed defender in Germany.”
