Cruciate ligament rupture in Cologne victory at Bayer Leverkusen

KThe 22,000 spectators experienced a great Rhenish derby for almost half an hour Bayer Leverkusen and 1. FC Köln with great scenes in front of both goals, until after an eternity of pandemics on the Rhine, the dark side of a well-filled stadium showed up again. Florian Wirtz, perhaps the most exciting player in the Bundesliga at the moment, who was set to play an important role in the national team this year, was curled up on the pitch.

He covered his face with his arms, everyone could see that the 18-year-old midfielder had injured his knee badly after a duel with Luca Kilian, and a long, long absence is imminent. The fear was confirmed on the evening of the match day. Wirtz has torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, his club said. This is the result of an MRI scan. It was initially unclear whether the German international’s participation in the World Cup was in danger. The tournament begins on November 21 in Qatar.

This wonderful and now possibly crying player, who had been trained in FC’s youth academy, was savagely insulted and mocked on the field by the Cologne fans. “It’s not OK. That’s not okay. That’s unnecessary,” emphasized Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart. Wirtz had to be carried off the pitch, the more empathetic part of the audience was shocked and a shadow hung over the game, which became more and more confused and finally ended with a somewhat fortunate 1-0 away win for Cologne.

Especially fans of tough duels at the limits of the rules could enjoy this game, and there were still interesting goal scenes. Leverkusen was a bit better in terms of football, but Cologne managed to turn the game into a hard-fought battle. For your own benefit.