Braunschweig’s Luc Ihorst is injured again. The attacker has just returned from a muscle injury – apparently too early. Against Mannheim, the 21-year-old picked up the next muscle fibre tear.
Ihorst was loaned out by Werder Bremen to Braunschweig before the season after a previous loan to Osnabrück. There, Ihorst had started the season well, scoring in the defeat against HSV in the cup (1:2) and the victories against Halle (2:0) and Zwickau (2:0) before a torn muscle fibre put him out of action for four weeks.
Already before the 1-0 win in Freiburg last week, coach Michael Schiele had had the attacker in mind for a squad nomination, but after consultation with the player, he had exercised caution. Now Ihorst was allowed to make his comeback against Mannheim on Saturday afternoon – but limped towards the players’ tunnel five minutes after his substitution with a thickly bandaged thigh.
“Then I knew that not everything was alright yet “
“When Luc didn’t go past the player in the running duel, I knew everything wasn’t all right yet,” said Schiele, whose fears were to prove true on Tuesday. Again it is the left thigh, again the diagnosis is “torn muscle fibre”. According to the club, the 1.90-metre man will probably miss another six weeks for the Braunschweig Lions. “Luc had just fought his way back and we gave him an extra week of training to avoid taking any risks. Now it’s a similar injury in a slightly different place. This is very bitter news for us,” said Schiele.
Kleeberg suffers serious knee injury
The 19-year-old Jannis Kleeberg, who has not yet played for the professionals this season, will be out for much longer. The youngster suffered a serious knee injury with a torn outer meniscus in the second team of the Lower Saxons, needs surgery and will be out for around half a year. “We are incredibly sorry for Jannis. He will get all the support he needs from us,” said Schiele.