Taras Stepanenko, captain of the Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk, has expressed his dismay at the injury and the associated World Cup elimination of German international Timo Werner. “I am deeply shaken. I am very sorry that he cannot go to Qatar,” said Stepanenko, 33, of the southern Germans newspaper with: “I hope that he gets on his feet as soon as possible. It makes me very sad what happened.”
Werner was injured in the early stages of Shakhtar Donetsk’s Champions League game against RB Leipzig in Warsaw on Wednesday. In a duel with Stepanenko, the Ukrainian international hit the RB striker on the ankle. On Thursday, investigations in Leipzig revealed that Werner had torn the syndesmosis ligament during the action. He will be out until the end of the year and will not be available to national coach Hansi Flick at the World Cup in Qatar.
“I’ve never injured a player in my career. I can only emphasize that I had absolutely no intention of harming Werner. It pains me that I spoiled such a big dream for a colleague,” said Stepanenko. Nothing was further from his mind than causing damage to Werner.
Stepanenko contacted the SZ to convey his apology
Stepanenko said he had already tried to contact Werner via a social network on Thursday morning. At that time it was not foreseeable that Werner would miss the World Cup. Stepanenko found out about the news after the team’s return from Warsaw to the Shakhtar district in Lviv.
Because of the Ukraine war, Shakhtar has to host its European games in the Polish capital. Shakhtar was eliminated from the Champions League after beating Leipzig 4-0 on Wednesday. The Ukrainian champions reached the Europa League in third place behind Real Madrid.
Werner had to be replaced after a good ten minutes on Wednesday. After Werner’s devastating diagnosis was known, Stepanenko contacted the SZ to express his wish that “Werner will soon get back on his feet and come back stronger. I can only repeat myself: I’m so sorry,” explained Stepanenko.