Stuttgart confirm ligament tear for Angelo Stiller

VfB Stuttgart have suffered another setback in their pre-season preparations after midfielder Angelo Stiller suffered a partial tear of the lateral ligament in his left ankle.

The 23-year-old picked up the injury during Wednesday’s training session at the club’s training camp in Rottach-Egern on Lake Tegernsee. Subsequent examinations confirmed the damage.

The injury will bring back unpleasant memories for Stiller, who hurt the same ankle on Matchday 33 of last season following a foul by Augsburg’s Samuel Essende. That ligament injury almost ruled him out of Stuttgart’s DFB-Pokal final win over Armenia Bielefeld in Berlin.

Despite limited training before the 4-2 triumph, Stiller played a key role in the showpiece, being directly involved in three of the Swabians’ goals.

The latest setback is not expected to keep Stiller sidelined for long. He will sit out training for the coming days, but will remain with the squad at the camp. Stuttgart confirmed that the midfielder will miss the upcoming friendlies against Toulouse and Bologna.

The aim is to have Stiller fit again in time for the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup clash with Bayern München on August 16th. 

VfB begin their Bundesliga campaign a week later away to Union Berlin, before travelling to Eintracht Braunschweig for the first round of the DFB-Pokal three days after that.