Holger Badstuber has picked up another long term injury, with Ermin Bicakcic, Kevin de Bruyne and Luiz Gustavo also facing time on the sidelines.

After recently returning from a twenty-month, double ACL tear injury lay-off, Holger Badstuber won't be playing football again this year. The centre-back, whose development has pegged back by several serious injuries, tore his thigh muscle in the 2-0 win against Stuttgart on Saturday. Bayern are already without Javi Martinez after he suffered an ACL tear against Borussia Dortmund in the Super Cup, with Mehdi Benatia 'replacing him' as such. Dante, Badstuber, Benatia and Boateng seemed to be more than enough to get the Bavarians comfortably through the Hinrunde, but this latest injury is a set-back they didn't need.

Badstuber has spoken after the injury, "Obviously I'm very disappointed at the moment," he told fcbayern.de, "but now I know how to deal with such a situation. Do not worry! I will come again, and then pick up where I had left off now after fighting though my long injury break. I will not give up!" The diagnosis was delivered by club doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt on Sunday morning.

Ermin Bicakcic, coincidentally, also tore his thigh muscle. The Bosnian had been a key part of Hoffenheim's much improved defensive set-up this season and will be a major blow for Markus Gisdol, who knew it was serious, "I fear there is something more than a sprain."  He had continued into injury time, despite signaling for a substitution before the end, but could take no more and Gisdol's men had to see out the 1-1 draw with 10 men.

It wasn't the only injury concern for the Sinsheim side, who saw Sejad Salihovic taken off at half-time with a laceration to his knee and required two stitches. Sebastian Rudy, who made his impressive national team debut against Scotland, couldn't complete the 90 minutes due to abductor problems. Though both aren't expected to face lengthy spells out.

Wolfsburg, too, picked up injuries to key players, ahead of their crunch Europa League clash with Everton.  Luiz Gustavo has sprained his medial ligament, with Klaus Allofs suggesting it could be a waiting game, "He will be treated intensively and now we have to wait for two days." While the Brazilian looks like he could miss the trip to Merseyside on Thursday, Allofs is "a bit more positive" when it comes to Kevin de Bruyne's efforts to be fit.