Thunderbolt in the Bundesliga.
This Thursday morning, Borussia Dortmund caught everyone off guard by announcing Niklas Süle’s retirement at the end of the season.
The German giant explained on the Spielmacher podcast that his decision was driven by his recent fear of having suffered another serious injury, having already torn his cruciate ligaments twice and endured numerous setbacks throughout his career.
“When our doctor did the drawer test in the Hoffenheim dressing room (a test used to detect a possible cruciate ligament tear), looked at the physio while shaking his head, and the physio did the same test without feeling anything, I went to take a shower and cried for ten minutes. At that moment, I really thought: ‘It’s torn.’ When I had the MRI the next day and got the good news (that it was not, in fact, a cruciate ligament tear), I knew, one thousand percent, that it was over. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than looking forward to the future — being independent, going on vacation, spending time with my children — and then having to deal with this third cruciate ligament tear,” he said on the podcast.
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Over the course of his career, Süle played for Hoffenheim, Bayern Munich and Dortmund, winning the Champions League (x1), the German league title (x5), the German Cup (x2), the German Super Cup (x4), the UEFA Super Cup (x1) and the Club World Cup (x1).
He also earned 49 caps for Germany, scoring one goal in a friendly against Russia in 2018.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.
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