Chairman: As of Friday, the rest are after us

Only three days remain until the second half of the 2011/12 campaign, and it restarts with a mouth-watering encounter, as Bundesliga leaders Bayern visit fourth-placed Mönchengladbach. “Let's be clear: as of Friday, our rivals will be after us," FCB chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge declared on Tuesday. By way of deterring the chasing pack, captain Philipp Lahm called for Munich “to send out a signal" to those same hungry rivals.

A win against Gladbach would see Bayern extend their lead at the top of the table to six points, at least until Saturday evening. “We have to show our rivals we've hit the ground running," continued Lahm. Everything is in place for the men in red to make a good start to the rest of the campaign, as the mid-season training period opened with a hugely productive stay in Doha.