Brief lay-off for relieved Van Buyten

It’s rare that an injured player smiles, but Daniel van Buyten managed at least a grin on Friday afternoon. “It’s not as bad as we first thought. I’m only out for a couple of days,” the Belgian reported at Bayern’s training base in Donaueschingen: “I hope it’ll be cured by a bit of rest.” Earlier in the day, he cut a sorry figure in the Öschberghof lobby, ruminating on a potentially serious setback.

Van Buyten injured his right knee during the morning workout in Munich on Thursday, but an MRI scan conducted by team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt showed that the player had suffered nothing worse than a sprain. He will be allowed to resume jogging at the weekend, before rejoining the squad by the middle or end of next week.

Unlucky timing

All in all, it could have been a whole lot worse for the 31-year-old centre-back. “Naturally, I’m a bid down. It’s a bad time to get injured,” Van Buyten observed. Coach Louis van Gaal is right at this moment working on his starting line-up for the new campaign. However, the Belgian colossus will only be sidelined in the battle for places for a short time. “I’ll come back and pick up the pre-season programme where I left off.”