Czech striker Schick out for weeks with muscle injury

The Czech football player Patrik Schick is set to miss several weeks after sustaining a tear in his left calf muscle on Friday. The striker was injured in a game between his German top flight club Leverkusen and Mainz. Schick, who was joint top scorer at the last Euros, has scored 20 goals this season, the only other player apart from Robert Lewandowski to have done so in the Bundesliga.

The injury threatens his participation in playoffs to advance to the World Cup. The Czechs take on Sweden on March 24; if they win they will face either Russia or Poland for a place in the competition.