Borussia Dortmund captain and Germany international Marco Reus will be sidelined for at least four weeks after picking up an ankle injury in Saturday’s 1-0 win over local rivals Schalke 04, the club said on Sunday. The 33-year-old was taken off on a stretcher in the first half of Dortmund’s Ruhr Derby against Schalke on Saturday.

Reus was in tears after bending his right ankle in a challenge for the ball with Schalke’s Florian Flick. Gio Reyna came on for Reus while Flick was able to continue after treatment on his knee. “It looks like the ligaments were injured, but I don’t think it will last quite that long (till the World Cup),” Dortmund coach Edin Terzic told Sky TV after the match. Dortmund sports director Sebastian Kehl later said. “The checks we did showed no fracture.”

Germany coach Hansi Flick included Reus is counting on the attacking midfielder as a key member of his World Cup squad. Reus has been plagued by injuries at inopportune times throughout his career. He missed Germany’s World Cup win in 2014 with an ankle injury sustained in a warm-up game, and a groin injury ruled him out of the 2016 European Championship.

He played in Germany’s unsuccessful World Cup defence in 2018 but skipped the next European Championship to recover after his season with Dortmund.