Bad news for Joel Matip: The Liverpool FC center back and former Schalke player has suffered a serious injury.

During his career, Joel Matip has had to cope with numerous minor and major injuries. Now the 32-year-old, who was born in Bochum, has been hit particularly hard. The Liverpool FC center back tore his anterior cruciate ligament. Last night, his club announced the diagnosis.

Matip suffered the serious knee injury during the 4-3 win against Fulham last weekend. He had to be substituted in the 69th minute. He faces a month-long absence and possibly even the end of his time in Liverpool, as Matip’s contract expires next summer.

“It’s a cruciate ligament rupture, unfortunately I expected that from the first second. It all looked that way. Extremely unfortunate,” said LFC coach Jürgen Klopp on the sidelines of the 2-0 win over Sheffield United on Wednesday evening, before the bad news was officially announced.

“This is a bitter setback for Matip. The defender, who made the switch from the FC Schalke 04 youth squad to the professional squad in 2009 and subsequently played 256 competitive matches (23 goals) for the Royal Blues, had been getting regular playing time this season. After Matip had to settle for the role of a reserve for most of last year, he started nine of 14 Premier League match days this season and made a solid case for a contract extension with mostly solid performances.

Whether it will come to that is more questionable than ever after the cruciate ligament injury. Matip has been lining up at Anfield since 2016, when he was one of the first signings of Klopp’s reign. Matip celebrated major successes with Liverpool, lifting the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League title a year later. He has made 201 appearances for the club – whether further appearances will be added remains to be seen.