In the very first test after his move to Eintracht Braunschweig, Sidi Sané has to accept a setback. Against Rot-Weiss Essen he tore the inner ligament in his knee.

Last Saturday, Sidi Sané celebrated his debut for Eintracht Braunschweig. But his first appearance in blue and yellow ended with a substitution due to injury. Now it is certain: The newcomer from FC Schalke will miss the Lions for a long time.

The 20-year-old, who came on the pitch after an hour in the XXL test against Rot-Weiss Essen over 120 minutes, went down after a duel with Essen’s centre-back Lennart Bollenberg and had to be substituted again after 92 minutes. Two days later, after an MRI examination, the diagnosis stands. The attacker has torn his inner ligament in his left knee.

Sané misses two duels with Schalke

His new club estimates that he will be out of action for about ten weeks. This means that Sané will in all probability miss at least the first nine matchdays in the 2nd Bundesliga, including the home match on matchday 3 against his youth club S04 (Sunday, 20 August, 1.30 p.m.), as well as the cup duel with the Knappen a week earlier (Friday, 11 August, 8.45 p.m.). In the still young professional career of the brother of Bayern professional Leroy Sané, it is the first serious injury setback.

The move to the second-division club only became official on Thursday before his debut. In the press release, Sané still emphasised: “I’m really looking forward to this time, to the team, the fans and I want to show what I can do. I want to help Eintracht further and will give everything to ensure that we play a successful season as a team.”

Braunschweig’s managing director of sport Peter Vollmann announced that Sané will “quickly collect action time”. But until he can help his new teammates, the 1.87-metre winger, who can also play in attacking midfield, must now be patient for the time being.

Eintracht Braunschweig starts the season next Sunday. Holstein Kiel will be guests at the Eintracht Stadium from 1.30 p.m.