Austria are reeling from the shock news that goalkeeper Helge Payer is out of the Euro 2008 finals. Monday’s training session was interrupted when he suffered pains in his stomach and to his back, prompting the team’s medical staff to carry out an MRI scan, the results of which indicated he requires an urgent operation for partially blocked veins in the stomach. He has already been sent to a vascular surgery unit in Vienna for the operation.

Austrian team doctor Ernst Schopp confirmed that the unlucky keeper will not be able to perform any type of physical activity for the immediate future. Helge Payer was in line to keep goal at the Euro 2008 finals ahead of Alex Manninger and Jürgen Macho but he has now been replaced by Ramazan Özcan.

Özcan is more than a capable replacement though, having been a star performer in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim promotion push to the Bundesliga in Germany. He is 23 years of age and has already been capped for Austria Under-21 team and in January of this year moved to Hoffenheim in a loan deal from Salzburg. By April, Hoffenheim were so impressed with his form that the made the deal permanent, offering him a three-year contract at the club.