Plea's knee injury may be serious, Freiburg's Röhl set for sidelines

Borussia Mönchengladbach trainer Gerardo Seoane expressed concern for goal-scorer Alassane Plea after the Frenchman had to be subbed off injured in Saturday's 1-3 loss to Stuttgart. The 31-year-old has featured in all four of Seoane's starting XIs in competitive play this year.

Plea scored a goal and bagged an assist in the Pokal victory over Erzgebirge Aue. He added his first Bundesliga goal in Saturday's defeat, but had to be subbed off just two minutes after netting the 1-1 equalizer in the 27th-minute.

"More clarification is coming," Seoane noted at his post-match presser, "Obviously we hope that there's no major damage to his knee and its just a knock."

The prognosis definitely appears more grim for SC Freiburg attacker Merlin Röhl. SCF head-coach Julian Schuster noted that the ankle injury that led to the 22-year-old being subbed off in the 39th minute of Saturday's 2-1 win over Bochum appeared to be serious. 

Röhl has started all three Bundesliga fixtures under Schuster and returned from the international break full of confidence along with the rest of the Germany U21 squad. He was Schuster's go-to option in the crucial ten slot behind Junior Adamu. 

“Merlin's injury is very painful,” Schuster admitted at the post-match presser, "It didn't look good. We'll have to wait for the exact diagnosis, but we have to expect him to be out for a while. That's a shame as Merlin was in top shape."