Pneumonia rules Dortmund star out of Donetsk clash

10 February 2013 13:16

Borussia Dortmund's Kevin Grosskreutz will miss Wednesday's Champions League last 16 clash away to Shakhtar Donetsk after being hospitalised with suspected pneumonia, coach Jurgen Klopp confirmed Sunday.

Klopp ruled out any chance of Grosskreutz making the match at Donetsk's Donbass Arena in Ukraine after the 24-year-old spent the weekend in hospital and missed Borussia's shock 4-1 home defeat by Hamburg on Saturday in the Bundesliga.

After training with the team last Thursday, Grosskreutz was taken to hospital where he was treated for a lung infection, and was only briefly allowed to leave the clinic on Saturday to watch his team play on television.

There is a question mark over midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, who is carrying a thigh and toe injury which kept him out of the Hamburg defeat which left Dortmund second in the German league.

Centre-back Neven Subotic, who passed a fitness test on Sunday, and left-back Marcel Schmelzer are both set to return from injury to take their respective places in the starting line-up.

"We weren't good and deserved to lose, we will be much better on Wednesday," said Klopp.

Source: AFP