The stars managed to bring back something of the wonderful weather from Qatar and India when training resumed at the Säbener Strasse at 3 pm on Thursday. Nowhere else in Bavaria was as warm as Munich, where the skies were blue and the temperature around 8 degrees Celsius, as the Bundesliga leaders moved onto the home straight ahead of the restart fixture away to Mönchengladbach on 20 January.
Boss Jupp Heynckes had earlier indicated that the session would be relatively light, easing the players back into the groove after the strenuous efforts in Doha and Delhi, but that was not the case in reality. The players clearly used a day off on Wednesday to recharge their batteries, and were fully committed in a series of passing and shooting exercises. The practice match at the end of the session was practically at full pace, with the team in yellow, led off by Arjen Robben, Toni Kroos and Manuel Neuer, narrowly defeating the team in red, featuring Franck Ribéry, Mario Gomez and Jörg Butt.
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