Marco Reus will miss this winter's World Cup in Qatar, with his latest injury being another heartbreaking setback in what has been an incredibly unlucky international career.
The 33-year-old, who has made just 48 appearances for Die Nationalmannschaft since 2011, picked up an ankle injury in Borussia Dortmund's league clash against Schalke on September 17.
Then, to the surprise of many, Reus returned to action a month later but he appeared to aggravate the injury during Dortmund 2-0 defeat to Union Berlin.
As a result, he will miss a World Cup that could have potentially been his last.
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Reus hasn't had the best luck when it comes to injuries at major tournaments.
Back in 2014, he missed the World Cup – a tournament that Germany went on to win – with an ankle injury suffered in their 6-1 win over Armenia.
Two years later and Reus, who scored 20 goals that season as Dortmund finished second in the Bundesliga, was left out of Germany's squad for Euro 2016 because of injury concerns, according to the head coach Joachim Low.
He would finally go on to play at a World Cup in the summer of 2018, but a shock defeat to South Korea meant Low's side were knocked out at the group stages.
And now, Reus will miss this winter's tournament in Qatar. According to Sky Sports, manager Hansi Flick had hoped for a timely recovery from his ankle injury but time wasn't on their side.
To add further salt into the wounds, it's thought the experienced forward would have played an important role in Flick's World Cup plans.
Reus was called up by Flick for June's Nations League games against Italy, England and Hungary and looked on course to feature this winter.
He has scored three goals in 12 appearances for Dortmund this season.
Topics: Marco Reus, Germany, Football World Cup
Jack Kenmare