Schweinsteiger to miss Germany friendlies with knee injury

Berlin: Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger will miss friendly matches against England and Italy after injuring a ligament in his right knee, coach Joachim Loew said on Wednesday.
The Manchester United midfielder, who had injured the same knee only months ago, has an injury-plagued first season at the English club, raising concerns about his fitness for the European Championship in France in June.
"He was injured at the end of training without any other involvement, while playing a pass," Loew told reporters. "It is likely to be the ligament which he had injured a few weeks ago (at Manchester United).
"He is being checked out in Munich at the moment so I am not able to give an exact diagnosis. We will discuss it this afternoon. It does not look very positive. Maybe it is partially torn. Obviously he will miss both matches."
Germany, World Cup winners in 2014, take on England in Berlin on March 26 and Italy in Munich three days later.
Mesut Ozil and Karim Bellarabi also missed training on Wednesday with minor injuries.
"I expect both of them to be fit for Saturday," Loew said.
The Germans, who have been drawn with Poland, Northern Ireland and Ukraine in Group C, will announce their team on May 17 but Loew was unsure whether that would also be his final squad.
"I don't know yet. I will have to see how some of the players who are injured come back until then, in what form they are."
Among those missing from the friendly internationals are central defenders Jerome Boateng and Benedikt Hoewedes.
"The battle for the 20-plus-three spots of the squad is already well under way," Loew said. "The young players are really pushing forward."