The striker of the Bayern Munich and the German team, Miroslav Klose, is about to miss at least two very important games for his country, and several games for its football club, due to a knee injury that is going to keep him out of the fields for a minimum of three weeks, according to the Bayern manager, Ottmar Hitzfeld.

Klose aggravated a right-knee injury during the Bundesliga victory against Bayer Leverkusen on last Saturday, September 29.

The shocking announcement came in a very bad moment because Klose had scheduled games with the Bayern Munich for the UEFA Cup and the Bundesliga, where he’s leading with 8 goals this season; and with the Germany’s upcoming European Championship qualifying games against Czech Republic and Ireland, which are vital games in Germany’s way to the Euro 2008.

Just a day before Klose, it was revealed that the goalkeeper Oliver Kahn also was going to be out of the Bayern for a month, due to an elbow injury, then both players will miss the team’s crucial UEFA Cup first-round second-leg game against the Portugal Belenenses on Lisbon, next Thursday, October 4.

Klose, of 29 years old, won the Golden Boot at the 2006 World Cup in Germany as top scorer with 5 goals, same amount of goals he scored in his World Cup debut in Japan-Korea 2002, which makes him the only player to score 5 or more goals in consecutive World Cups. Currently he enjoys a 0.5 goals-per-game scoring ratio for his country.

That’s the reason why both the German team and the Bayern Munich are regretting his absence so much.