Lars Bender undergoes ankle surgery

Bayer Leverkusen will have to make do without the services of captain Lars Bender until the new year after the midfielder underwent successful ankle surgery.

The 26-year-old last featured for Leverkusen as a substitute in their DFB-Pokal win over Viktoria Koln at the end of October.

A club statement read: "Lars Bender has successfully undergone surgery on his right ankle in a hospital in Basel on Tuesday.

"The Leverkusen captain will remain in Switzerland for a week and then start his recovery in Leverkusen.

"An operation had become necessary due to his ongoing problems. Bender will be unavailable for the remainder of 2015."