Eintracht Frankfurt football club captain Marco Russ has been diagnosed with a tumour following a drug test he underwent after a Bundesliga match, the football club said.
The German player, 30, will undergo surgery next Tuesday, but has asked coach Niko Kovac to call him for Thursday's game against Nuremberg, where Eintracht will fight to stay in the first division, reports newspaper Bild, according to Efe.
In a statement, Eintracht explained that it received on Wednesday the results of doping tests on Russ showing an extremely high level of growth hormone.
Specialists of the German Anti-Doping Agency immediately suggested that this could be due to illness.
The club doctor gave Russ a preliminary examination and he was referred to an urologist who identified a "serious tumour" which explained the high hormone levels.
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