Leverkusen winger Bellarabi earns Germany call-up

BERLIN (Reuters) - Bayer Leverkusen winger Karim Bellarabi capped a superb start to the Bundesliga season with a Germany call-up on Thursday for this month's internationals. The World Cup winners travel to Warsaw for a friendly against Poland on Oct. 11 before hosting Ireland in Gelsenkirchen three days later in a Euro 2016 qualifiers. The 24-year-old Bellarabi, who scored the fastest Bundesliga goal ever on the first matchday this season and has played for Germany's youth teams, had also been courted by the Moroccan football federation to play for them. "Karim Bellarabi has earned this chance following outstanding performances for his club," Germany coach Joachim Loew said in a statement. "He is very strong in one-on-one situations and is an outstanding alternative for our attack." With striker Mario Gomez out injured along with Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sami Khedira and Marco Reus among others, Loew recalled Borussia Moenchengladbach's Max Kruse. Germany won their opening Group D qualifier, 2-1 against Scotland. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)