Germany star Dzsenifer Marozsan will miss the rest of the Women's World Cup group stage with a broken toe, coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg has confirmed.
Lyon midfielder Marozsan played on with the injury to her left foot in Saturday's 1-0 win over China, but medical evaluations confirmed that she will miss at least the next two matches.
Germany face Spain on Wednesday before taking on South Africa on Monday, with the 27-year-old's fitness to be reassessed after those matches have been completed.
"[Marozsan] has broken her toe, which means she will not play any further part in the group stage," Voss-Tecklenburg told a news conference.
"We will try to get her back on the pitch at the World Cup, but we cannot give a forecast.
Martina #Voss -Tecklenburg: "She has broken her toe, which means she will not play any further part in the group stages."
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) June 11, 2019
We will be without Dzsenifer #Marozsan for the next couple of games. Get well soon, Maro!
WIR #IMTEAM #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/D0y7OVxg7L
"This injury hurts, especially for her, because this is a special World Cup for Dzseni. We cannot replace her, because she has special skills. We have to make up for that as a team."
Spain will present an extremely tough obstacle to Voss-Tecklenburg's side in their next encounter at the Stade du Hainaut in Valenciennes, and the coach must now decide exactly how to plug the very obvious gap in midfield left by Marozsan.
The 27-year-old playmaker won female footballer of the year in Germany in 2017 and 2018 and has made 91 appearances for her country. Her absence will undoubtedly be a blow for the side who are among the favourites to win the tournament in France this summer, but her team-mates remain unbeat.
"We were all shocked and sad," admitted new Arsenal defender Leonie Maier. "However, our squad is wide-ranging. We can compensate for the injury and will play for Maro."
Marozsan has won the Champions League title four times - once with Frankfurt and on three occasions with Lyon - and previously captained her country.
The Hungarian-born player is an extremely popular figure with the fans, and was very confident of her side's chances before the tournament began.
"A lot of teams are able to play for the title,” she revealed to The Telegraph . “But our claim is to stay in the tournament until the end.
“We definitely have the potential, but everyone who has played an international tournament knows you need to achieve much more than having the potential to be successful."