Goetze left out for Benfica clash
Hero of the 2014 World Cup final, Mario Goetze misses out on a spot in the 27-man Germany preliminary squad for the 2018 World Cup. Photo: AFP File
Germany's World Cup winner Mario Goetze has been left out of Borussia Dortmund's squad for Tuesday's Champions League last 16, first-leg, clash against Benfica.
The 24-year-old has fallen out of favour with coach Thomas Tuchel after a string of below-par performances and is struggling with a leg injury, which kept him out of Saturday's shock 2-1 defeat at Bundesliga bottom side Darmstadt.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "For him, the game in Lisbon came a bit too soon," Dortmund's director of sport Michael Zorc told BVB.de.
Injury and loss of form mean Goetze, who scored the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final, has played just 24 minutes of football so far in 2017.
Dortmund have been boosted with the return of both captain Marcel Schme-lzer and Lukasz Piszczek.
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