Germany calls up Leverkusen defender Tah to replace Ruediger at Euro Cup

He played 29 times in the previous club season for Laverkusen.

Germany’s Euro 2016 preparations have been rocked by an injury to defender Antonio Rudiger on the eve of the tournament. “We wanted to replace @ToniRuediger with a centreback #DieMannschaft”, DFB wrote on Twitter.

The 23-year-old ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament during a session on Tuesday, just five days before Germany are due to get their campaign underway against Ukraine in Lille.

To make matters worse, Bayern Munich’s new signing and former Borussia Dortmund captain Mats Hummels is yet to fully recover from a calf injury and Jerome Boateng is also coming after a long injury lay-off.

Lukas Podolski, who was excused Tuesday because of the birth of his daughter, was expected back in Evian on Wednesday evening. I always said we wouldn’t start feeling sorry for ourselves.

“Löw: “We have made a decision to call up Jonathan #Tah”.

He was in contention to make Joachim Loew’s line-up as World Cup victor Mats Hummels is not expected to recover in time for the game in Lille as he recovers from a calf tear.

Joachim Loew’s men, who are chasing their fourth European Championship trophy but their first since 1996, play Ukraine, Northern Ireland and Poland in the group stage of the competition that starts on Friday.

“We’ve lost players who were concretely in my plans, but we’ve found solutions”. Midfielders Emre Can or Joshua Kimmich could also drop back into defence.