For a man who clinched the last World Cup with an extra-time goal, this wasn’t great timing on Mario Götze’s part.
With the announcement of Germany’s final Euro 206 squad looming, the Bayern Munich midfielder tweeted special birthday greetings to his friend Marco Reus.
‘Happy Birthday Marco! Can’t wait for our next tournament together,’ the tweet read.
Reus, a teammate of Götze at Borussia Dortmund before his move to Bayern in 2013, missed the World Cup due to an ankle injury.
Unbeknown to Götze, confirmation that his friend was also set to miss this summer’s European Championships in France was announced just minutes after this tweet.
https://twitter.com/_MoBaby/status/737602494134517765
The 27-year-old has been left out of Joachim Löw’s final squad with the Germany manager expressing his concerns over his fitness.
Reus has reportedly been struggling with a groin injury and following advice from the German team’s medical staff, Löw made the decision not to take him to France.
“Reus can only run straight now,” Löw said. “He could do no more in training. The medical staff was sceptical that he would be fully fit.
“It’s a bitter decision for him and us. He would be a major gain for our team if he was fit.”
Having deleted his earlier tweet, Götze sent a new one expressing his disappointment at the news.
Happy Bitrthday @marcinho11 but we are really sad. Unbelievable. That hurts me. #vivelafreundschaft pic.twitter.com/Dp8Au4gawM
— mariogotze.eth (@MarioGoetze) May 31, 2016