November 18, (THEWILL) – Germany’s first-choice goalkeeper, Marc Andre ter Stegen, has been ruled out of the national team’s upcoming friendly matches against Turkey and Austria, due to a back injury, coach Julian Nagelsmann announced on Friday.
Ter Stegen, who plays for Barcelona at the club level, has been Germany’s primary goalkeeper since Manuel Neuer suffered a broken leg last year. However, Nagelsmann said Ter Stegen would be returning to Spain to recover and miss both matches.
“Marc Andre will miss both matches. He has acute back pain that restricts his movement. He felt it a bit yesterday in training but today it got worse,” Nagelsmann revealed.
With Neuer having only recently returned from injury, Nagelsmann said Kevin Trapp, Janis Blaswich and Oliver Baumann would compete for the starting spot against Turkey on Saturday and Austria next week. The coach did not immediately name a replacement.
The matches will be Nagelsmann’s first on home soil since taking over as Germany coach in September. He said defensive stability would be a priority as the team builds towards the European Championships, after disappointing results in recent major tournaments.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
