Regular and intense training certainly pays off for Philipp Lahm and Thomas Müller, who are very often seen locked in combat at table tennis in the performance centre at the Säbener Strasse facility. However, the stars' skills were tested at a whole new level in Beijing on Saturday. The Munich duo competed in an exhibition match organised by social media platform Tencent against two of the world's best players: long-time world number one Wang Hao and Ding Ning, currently the world's best female player.

"It was fun," Lahm reported, admitting with a sigh of relief: "They didn't take it deadly seriously, otherwise the result would have been very different." Müller felt it had been "a lesson. It's fantastic to see just how much spin you can put on the ball, more than you basically ever thought." The 25-year-old was very pleased with he and Lahm's performance as doubles partners: "It's the first time we've played doubles together, as we normally play against each other. But our movements were good."

How did the battle with the world's best conclude? See for yourself: