It’s the worst nightmare of any football manager. That one of your stars gets seriously injured on international duty. Which is exactly what has happened to Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid as their German star Sami Khedira will be to of action for at least six months after tearing both his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in his right knee in a friendly against Italy on Friday.
Khedira underwent surgery today and is expected to be out for at least six months and Germany team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt commented:
“We hope that he will be healthy again for the start of World Cup.”
Germany coach Joachim Low added:
“It is a big blow for Sami and for all of us. But he is a fighter both on and off the pitch and he always thinks positively. I am optimistic and I hope he will be back in time for the World Cup.”
While the Germany camp are naturally fixated on next summer’s World Cup, the loss will be more immediately felt by Real Madrid where Khedira was viewed as one of Ancelotti’s key players having played in eleven of Real Madrid’s thirteen league games so far this season. He has started on ten occasions and been on the bench just once. In the Champions League, the German midfielder has started four games. In three of these he played the full 90 minutes, while he was substituted in the 74th minute against Copenhagen.
The German is one of the most used players in the Real Madrid squad, along with Diego López and Cristiano Ronaldo, with 1234 minutes in total. The gap left by Khedira opens the debate on who should take his place in the team: Illarramendi, Isco, Casemiro or Di María?