Bayer Leverkusen defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos will miss his club's final four games of the Bundesliga season after it was confirmed that he will undergo surgery to repair a dislocated shoulder.
Papadopoulos, who is on loan from Schalke, sustained the injury in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Cologne, and he will undergo an operation this week that will leave him with an expected recovery time of three months.
The defender needed an operation in November to repair a similar problem, and his injury comes just a few days after it was determined that midfielder Gonzalo Castro will miss the rest of the campaign with a knee injury.
Manager Roger Schmidt is now short on defensive options with Papadopoulos out and former defender Emir Spahic having been released by the club earlier this month after being involved in an incident with a steward following a match.
Leverkusen is currently in fourth place in the league table, two points back of third-place Monchengladbach in the race for an automatic Champions League berth.
[SportsNetwork.com]
