There was a brief heart-in-mouth moment for Bayern as they began training on Wednesday. Sven Ulreich suffered a blow to the middle finger of his right hand and had to leave the pitch early. “He went for a scan at the hospital. We hope it’s nothing serious,” explained sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic. The diagnosis confirmed this hope as the goalkeeper only has a light sprain. His return to training is dependent on how the swelling of his finger goes down, but the team do not fear he will be out for a long period of time.
The same can be said for Robert Lewandowski (patella ligament problems) and Mats Hummels (adductor problems). “We’re checking each training session when they’ll be able to re-join. Both are on the road to recovery,” said Salihamidzic. Hummels was able to take part in light running exercises on Wednesday while Lewandowski was in the weights room.
The sporting director was not just thinking about those injured players in Doha but also about those continuing their rehabilitation in Munich. “Manuel Neuer is off crutches and starting his programme. We’ll give him all the time in the world to get fit again,” Salihamidzic stressed. Thiago is also making good progress with the “healing process looking good” at his last examination. “However, he suffered a bad muscle injury and we hope he recovers quickly because he’s an important player for us.”
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