Bayern's match on Thursday was a mere friendly, but that didn't stop a camera crew and reporters from Austrian TV station ORF1 travelling all the way from home to cover the game. Naturally, the warm-up encounter between FCB and suburban club Unterhaching was not really the central point of interest for the Austrians. It was of course David Alaba, the nation's brightest footballing star and its player of the year in 2011, who returned to action in Bayern's 2-0 victory after 12 wearying weeks on the sidelines. “Getting back out onto the field was wonderful. I'm very happy," a beaming Alaba said afterwards.
The player has been out of action since 20 July when he sustained a stress fracture to his left foot in FCB's meeting with Napoli at the Trentino summer training camp, an injury which required a surgical repair. It was a specially inopportune moment, because the Austrian was already in sparkling form. But hand wringing was never going to help, and Alaba duly spent the next few weeks with his foot in plaster.
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