Bender stays behind in London for surgery
Reuters - Wednesday 23 November 2011, 23:03
Borussia Dortmund
midfielder Sven Bender remained in London for an operation on a
broken jaw as his team-mates flew back to Germany after losing
2-1 in the Champions League to Arsenal on Wednesday.
Bender, 22, whose twin brother Lars was in the Bayer
Leverkusen side who beat Chelsea 2-1, was caught by a flying
boot in the face from Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen after 20
minutes of their Group F match.
Dortmund's manager Jurgen Klopp told reporters that his
player was not well enough to fly home with the rest of the
squad.
"He will have an operation in hospital in London tomorrow
morning, he cannot fly home now," Klopp said.
Less than five minutes after Bender was stretchered off the
Emirates Stadium pitch, Dortmund also lost Mario Gotze, one of the
brightest prospects in European football, with a knee injury.
"He has a bruised muscle around the knee, and although he
should be OK, we will have to wait and see," Klopp said.
"We started well, but after those two injuries in four or
five minutes, it really hurt us and gave Arsenal a lot of
confidence."