Bayern pair out of Germany squad

Bayern Munich duo Mario Gotze and Bastian Schweinsteiger will not play in Germany’s upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers due to injuries.

The news comes as a big blow to the national team, though they comfortably top Group C, with midfielder Gotze sustaining a painful blow to the ankle in his side’s UEFA Super Cup win against Chelsea on Friday.

The 21-year-old was brought down by Ramires in the latter stages of normal time, a challenge that earned the Brazilian a second yellow card and now faces a spell on the sidelines after tweeting pictures of himself wearing a plaster cast on Sunday.

For Schweinsteiger, there were hopes that he would return after being included in the squad for the international fixtures, but an ankle sprain sustained against Freiburg on Tuesday has not yet fully healed.

Their omissions marks more in a string for Germany after Ilkay Gundogan and Lukas Podolski both also had to withdraw and Joachim Low may look to bring in reinforcements.

The Germans will aim to secure their World Cup spot when they take on Austria on September 6 and the Faroe Islands just four days later.