Low fearful over Gotze injury

Joachim Low feared the worst for Mario Gotze following his ankle injury sustained in the UEFA Super Cup victory over Chelsea on Friday.

The Germany manager will be without Gotze for his side’s FIFA World Cup qualifier against Austria on Friday following a tackle during the UEFA Super Cup at Eden Park from Chelsea midfielder Ramires, who was dismissed for a second booking after the challenge.

While the playmaker could miss two weeks of Bundesliga action for Bayern Munich, Low believes it could have been much worse for the 21-year-old.

“For me it was a bad tackle, not a good one,” said Low.

“I thought it could have been worse as well, luckily it wasn’t.”

Low also expressed a hope that Gotze can recover quickly from his injury and fight for a spot in the national side.

“He will be here (at the game) on Friday, we are contacting him regularly. For him it’s really bad, for Bayern as well, suffering another major injury, shortly after recovering from a previous one. He will have to fight back.

“I hope he finds his rhythm back quickly and he will be an outstanding player.

“In 2012 he suffered the same with being out for six months. Now the World Cup is coming closer, so we really hope he won’t be injured too much and too often.”

Gotze has not featured for Germany in three games, last appearing in the 4-1 win over Kazakhstan in March – a game in which he scored.