Bitter diagnosis for Sasa Kalajdzic

The ÖFB team striker, who works for Eintracht Frankfurt, suffered a torn cruciate and lateral ligament in his right knee in the Bundesliga game against SC Freiburg (3:3) on Sunday. His club announced this shocking diagnosis on Monday. It is Kalajdzic’s third cruciate ligament tear.

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The 26-year-old sustained the injury in the eighth minute of the game without any outside influence. He was able to walk into the locker room on his own and returned to the Frankfurt bench on crutches in the second half, but the bitter diagnosis came on Monday. Kalajdzic moved to Frankfurt on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers at the beginning of January, but after just five appearances in the Bundesliga and one game in the Conference League with a goal against Union Saint-Gilloise, the season is over.

Already two cruciate ligament tears

The two-meter man tore the cruciate ligament in his left knee as well as the medial ligament and the lateral meniscus in a test match in July 2019, just two weeks after his move from Admira to the then German second division club VfB Stuttgart. His debut for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the English Premier League also ended in September 2022 with a torn cruciate ligament in his left knee.

Now the next long break for Kalajdzic is coming up, Frankfurt did not announce how long. The striker is the next long-term loss for team boss Ralf Rangnick’s ÖFB selection. Captain David Alaba tore the cruciate ligament in his left knee in a Real Madrid championship game in December. It remains to be seen whether the defense chief will be fit in time for the EURO in Germany, which begins on June 14th.