Jupp Heynckes was able to finally say “bienvenido” to his south American trio of Arturo Vidal, Rafinha and James Rodriguez on Wednesday after they finally arrived at the training camp in Doha. It had been agreed in advance that the three would join the squad late, and with their arrival the 25-man squad for the winter training camp is complete. The team were greeted by applause from 250 spectators at their first open training session at the Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence before setting about their work in 25-degree heat and bright sunshine – ideal conditions for playing football.
Germany backing Bayern
FC Bayern hold an 11-point lead over Schalke at the halfway stage of the Bundesliga campaign. It’s therefore hardly a surprise that almost half of Germany have backed the Munich club for another title. 49 per cent of Germans who took part in a survey by opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (German Press Agency) are saying that a sixth consecutive title for the record champions is inevitable. Just 15 per cent of those asked back another team to pip Bayern.
False start for FCBB in EuroCup Top 16
The FC Bayern basketballers have gotten their new year off to a false start with a 90-76 defeat at Fiat Turin in their first game of the EuroCup Top 16. A poor first-half performance was the main reason for just the third competitive defeat of the season as the current Bundesliga leaders gave the ball away 14 times (19 by the end of the match). Turin put in an impressive team performance with 24 assists (15 for FCBB) and an outstanding strike rate (73% of two-pointers). Despite Devin Brooker picking up 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Bavarians, Bayern failed to perform in either defence or attack in front of the 2025 spectators in attendance. The Munich side now travel to Leipzig on Sunday to take on Mitteldeutscher BC for the final game of the first half of the season (17:30 CET). Bayern’s first home game of 2018 sees Lithuanian side Lietuvos Rytas from Vilnius visit the Audi Dome at 19:00 CET on Wednesday 10 January.
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