Broken leg fears for Hargreaves

England international Owen Hargreaves could face a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a suspected broken leg.
Hargreaves, 25, came off after 24 minutes of Bayern Munich's 2-1 league defeat by Arminia Bielefeld after colliding with opponent Thorben Marx.

"We think he may have a broken fibula. We will know more after an examination," said coach Felix Magath.

The midfielder, a transfer target for Manchester United, cemented his place in the England team at the World Cup.

Many questioned Sven-Goran Eriksson's decision to take Hargreaves to Germany in the summer, let alone start with the Canadian-born player.

But Hargreaves won over the doubters with a stellar performance in the quarter-final defeat to Portugal and has continued to shine in the three matches under new boss Steve McClaren.

England have Euro 2008 qualifiers against Macedonia and Croatia in October.

He has taken on David Beckham's number seven shirt in national colours and was also being courted by Sir Alex Ferguson.

However, Bundesliga champions Bayern blocked a potential move to Old Trafford after losing Michael Ballack in the transfer window.

Hargreaves was not selected by Magath as speculation over his future intensified, but since transfer deadline day on 31 August he has reclaimed a starting place in the midfield alongside summer recruit Mark van Bommel.

A first defeat of the season means Bayern slip back to third in the Bundesliga.

They were leading when Hargreaves went off following Van Bommel's early strike, but Bielefeld bounced back and grabbed all three points with a late winner from Jonas Kamper.