Schneider to miss EUROs.

On May 2, 2008 Joachim Löw made a phone call to Bernd Schneider. The conversation was about Bernd’s back injury and his ability to play in the Euro’s. Schneider had an operation on his spinal disc on April 25th in Hannover. The two had a lengthy conversation about the tough decision they were facing - will he or won’t he be able to play. Both Schneider and Löw decided to follow the advice of Leverkusen’s medical staff and came to the agreement that Schneider will not take part in the UEFA EURO 2008 taking place June 7 - June 29. Leverkusen’s medical staff has declared the he should not return to practice before next season.

“Obviously, I am very disappointed, but health should always be the overriding priority”, said Schneider. “Who knows, there’s a World Cup being played in two years. But right now, I focus strictly on my recuperation.”

After the phone call Löw was disappointed, but will move forward.

“Bernd is such an experienced player and at the same time a brilliant technician. His injury really hurts our team. We refused to take him off the roster following his spinal operation, because we wanted to wait a few days. But today we have to accept that not performing at the EURO just gives him a much better chance to return quickly to his former capacities.”

Due to injuries this season, Schneider only played 15 Bundesliga games. He has earned 81 caps for Germany, six of which came during EURO 2008 qualifying and scored four goals.