Jamal Musiala was stretchered off with the Bayern Munich star sustaining a horror injury against Paris Sant-Germain.
The German starlet went down in the opposition box shortly before half time in their dramatic 2-0 Club World Cup defeat.
PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma won the 50-50 ball but took out Musiala in doing so.
Replays showed the 22-year-old crying out in pain after suffering what appears to be a gruesome ankle injury.
Achraf Hakimi and Donnarumma both gave worried looks when they saw Musiala, who was subsequently taken off on a stretcher with the game goalless.
Serge Gnabry was the man to replace the injured man, who scored three goals in as many appearances at the Club World Cup.
All three came as a hat-trick in their record 10-0 group stage thrashing of Auckland City.
Musiala has 21 goals and eight assists in 43 appearances for Bayern in the 2024/25 season.
His 16 contributions in the Bundesliga helped the club to win their 34th German league title.
The extend of his injury remains unknown, but there is a possibility that he will be sidelined for an extended period.
Bayern appeared to miss his attacking spark as PSG went 1-0 up on 78 minutes with a fine strike from Desire Doue.
The European champions went down to ten men shortly after though as Willian Pacho was dismissed for a foul on Leon Goretzka.
Lucas Hernandez was the second PSG player to be dismissed after his elbow hit Raphael Guerreiro in the face.
PSG made it 2-0 despite the two-man disadvantage courtesy of Ousmane Dembele, before a Bayern penalty was overturned by referee Anthony Taylor following a VAR check.
Bayern boss Kompany said it was a cruel blow for Musiala as he continues to struggle with injury issues.
“For these guys, it’s their life,” Kompany said afterwards. “Someone like Jamal lives for this, and he came back from a setback, and then it happens in the way it happens and you feel powerless.
“But the idea for the group and for us is always to gain strength out of it.
“So you try and get strength out of it because you want to do it for Jamal, but of course it’s… when I’m sat here next to you now… the thing that gets my blood still boiling at the moment, it’s not the result.
“I understand this is football but it’s the fact that it happened to someone that enjoys the game so much, but he’s also very important for us.”
Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer thought his opposite number Donnarumma could have prevented his injury.
Neuer said: “It was a situation where you don’t have to go in like that. That’s risk-taking. He was prepared to accept the risk of injuring his opponent.
“I went to him and said, ‘Don’t you want to go and see our player?’ It’s a matter of respect, of going there and wishing the guy all the best. He then did it.
“Fair play is always a part of it. I would have reacted differently.”
It was later reported that Musiala had fractured his fibula and would be out for at least four months.
He has already returned to Germany and will have surgery on Sunday.
Real Madrid will now meet PSG in the semi-finals.
Meeting them at the MetLife Stadium on July 13 for the final will be the winners of Fluminense vs Chelsea.
PSG have never won the Club World Cup, with this summer their first appearance in the tournament.
