Pogatetz ruled out for rest of season

Middlesbrough defender Emanuel Pogatetz has been ruled out for the rest of the season following the injury he suffered against Basle last night.

The 23-year-old Austrian is set for surgery next week after breaking his nose and fracturing his maxilla, which is a bone near the upper jaw.

Pogatetz was carried off on a stretcher during the UEFA Cup quarter-final first leg after a sickening clash of heads with Mladen Petric.

However, he was allowed to fly home with the rest of his team-mates during the early hours of this morning.

The incident came just five days after he had five stitches out in a facial wound after a collision with Bolton’s Kevin Davies.