Germany defender Dennis Aogo is the lastest Schalke 04 player to suffer a serious knee injury with the Royal Blues' left back having been told his season is over.

The 26-year-old, who is on loan from Hamburg, picked up the injury in training on Friday and a scan revealed torn cruciate and medial ligaments in his right knee meaning his season is effectively over.

The Royal Blues, third in Group E, must beat Swiss champions FC Basel in Gelenkirchen in a fortnight to progress to the knock-out stages of the Champions League.

Aogo is the third Schalke player to suffer a serious knee injury with midfielder Marco Hoeger also out for the season while striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is expected to return early in the new year after knee surgery.

It ends an unhappy season for Aogo, who was sent on loan from Hamburg after taking an unapproved trip to Mallorca after a heavy defeat in August.

He has now seen his chances of forcing his way back into the Germany team ahead of the 2014 Brazil World Cup effectively ended, having made made the last of his 12 appearances in June.

Schalke's Ghana midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has also been bothered by a knee problem having flown home from Romania, missing his team's midweek goalless draw at Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League, to seek treatement for a knee injury.

Schalke, who are sixth in the Bundesliga, host VfB Stuttgart on Saturday and hope to have rising Germany star Julian Draxler and Boateng in the starting line-up.