Germany forward Klose ruled out of Euro qualifiers

Berlin: Germany forward Miroslav Klose has been ruled out of next month's Euro 2012 qualifiers against Austria and Azerbaijan after picking up a rib injury in the 2-1 friendly win over Uruguay on Sunday.

Klose's injury opens the door for Bayern Munich team mate Mario Gomez to lead the attack after the Bundesliga top scorer made the most of a rare start by netting Germany's opening goal against Uruguay.

Klose, who was again seen as coach Joachim Loew's starting choice for the qualifiers despite Gomez's fine performance on Sunday, came on as a substitute in the second half but failed to make an impact.

"He picked up a painful rib injury. Medical tests on Monday showed that the 32-year-old will need to refrain from training in the coming days and so cannot be at our disposal for the qualifiers," the German football federation said in a statement.

Germany, who top their Euro qualifying group with five wins from as many matches, travel to Austria on June 3 before taking on Azerbaijan four days later.

Germany's second most capped player behind Lothar Matthaeus, Klose, is chasing Gerd Mueller's all-time scoring record, having netted 61 times in 109 appearances.

Mueller's record stands at 68 goals from 62 internationals.