Germany midfielder Mario Goetze will be sidelined for six to eight weeks with a public bone injury, his club, Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund, said on Tuesday.

Dortmund said in a statement that Goetze, 19, was diagnosed with a stress reaction and strain of the pubic bone by Dortmund doctor Markus Braun and national team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt.

“Dr Braun said that (Goetze) has to take a complete break for two weeks before he can start with rehabilitation. Goetze will not be available until the away game in Augsburg in mid-March, at the earliest,” the statement said.

Goetze has been nursing the problem for a while and was sidelined in Dortmund’s 5-1 Bundesliga victory in Hamburg on Sunday.

That victory showed that Dortmund can do well without him, but his absence is still a bad blow for coach Juergen Klopp, whose team is level on points with leaders Bayern Munich and Schalke in what is expected to be a fierce title race.

Goetze will also miss Germany’s friendly with France on February 29, the last game before coach Joachim Loew has to nominate the squad for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.