DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Borussia Dortmund's defensive worries deepened Monday with central defender Niklas Sule expected to be out for two months with a right calf injury sustained during a friendly game against Juventus.

Sule suffered a muscle injury and had to go off just before halftime during Sunday's match against the Italian team. He had only replaced Mats Hummels in the 19th minute of the veteran defender's farewell game. The 36-year-old Hummels, who played for Roma last season after leaving Dortmund for the second time in 2024, was bidding an emotional farewell to the Dortmund fans.

Dortmund was already without the injured Nico Schlotterbeck and Emre Can, exacerbating coach Niko Kovac's shortage of defenders before the team starts the season against Rot-Weiss Essen in the first round of the German Cup on Aug. 18. Dortmund starts its Bundesliga campaign at St. Pauli on Aug. 23.

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