Summer pre-season has been a successful affair for FCB so far. After convincing victories over Wolfratshausen and Erlangen-Bruck and the Telekom Cup triumph FC Bayern go east on Sunday. The German record champions will depart for the Audi Summer Tour to China and Singapore in the late evening.
Carlo Ancelotti has called up a top-notch squad for the highlight of pre-season. The FCB head coach has almost the complete squad at his disposal, including the recent arrivals James Rodríguez and Corentin Tolisso, world champions Thomas Müller and Mats Hummels as well as top striker Robert Lewandowski. Some reserves and U-19 players will join the pros.
The Bavarians will have to make do without three household names. Manuel Neuer (foot fracture), Jérôme Boateng (thigh injury) and Arjen Robben (calf injury) will stay in Munich. The trio will make use of the ideal conditions at the Säbener Strasse facility to speed up their recovery. Confed Cup finalists Joshua Kimmich, Sebastian Rudy, Niklas Süle and Arturo Vidal will join their team-mates after the Audi Summer Tour. Some former Bayern stars like Miroslav Klose will accompany Ancelotti's men to Asia.
The FCB pros are in for numerous demanding training sessions and friendlies against heavyweights Arsenal (19 July), AC Milan (22 July), Chelsea (25 July) and Inter Milan (27 July). "Everything's coordinated with Carlo Ancelotti. The players can really get to know each other, it's a good opportunity to settle in, especially for the new players," said chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
The Bayern squad for the Audi Summer Tour 2017:
Alaba, Bernat, Coman, Dorsch, Friedl, Früchtl, Götze, Hoffmann, Hummels, James, Lewandowski, Martínez, Müller, Pantovic, Rafinha, Ribéry, Sanches, Starke, Thiago, Tolisso, Ulreich, Wintzheimer