AFP

Germany defender Boateng ruled out of France clash

Berlin (AFP) – Germany defender Jerome Boateng has been ruled out of Tuesday’s away Nations League match against France in Paris with the under-fire Germans eager to avoid a record sixth defeat in a calendar year.

Boateng picked up a calf injury in Amsterdam as the Germans were hammered 3-0 by the Netherlands on Saturday to leave them bottom of their Nations League group.

The 30-year-old centre-back was injured with 20 minutes left, but finished the match as Germany coach Joachim Loew had already used his three substitutions with the Germans chasing the game at 1-0 down before the Dutch scored two late goals.

Boateng, a 2014 World Cup winner, will be replaced against the French by either his Bayern Munich team-mate Niklas Suele or Bayer Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah, who was drafted into the senior squad on Saturday after captaining the Under-21 team on Friday.

After the debacle in Amsterdam, Germany are eager for a victory at the Stade de France in Paris to avoid becoming the first senior German national side to lose six times in a single year and ease the mounting pressure on Loew.

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