Day 2: Gnabry back in full training

The Bayern stars are in Doha, Qatar from 4 to 10 January, toiling away at the traditional mid-season training camp. Read our daily diary direct from the Aspire Zone Foundation and find out more about the players' activities and impressions.

Serge Gnabry didn’t have an ideal start to his first winter training camp with FC Bayern. Although the winger trained with his teammates in the first two sessions on Friday evening and Saturday morning, he wasn’t able to complete the full programme following his muscle tear towards the end of the first half of the season. However, he declared himself ready for the third practice session in Doha on Saturday evening.

“Everyting has healed. I hope it will hold out for a long time now. I’m delighted to train with the team again and increase the workload,” announced the 23-year-old, who to his disappointment didn’t have the same fitness level as the rest of the team in the morning. “It was a really hard session,” said Gnabry somewhat exhausted. “We did lots of short sprints, lots on the steps, lots of stopping movements. It was very tiring.”

Robben as role model

The International spent the rest of the morning with Arjen Robben on another pitch. “Arjen did more of the long runs, I did more of the short runs with the ball as preparation for the afternoon session,” revealed Gnabry, who could hardly imagine a better training partner: “For me it’s brilliant to learn from him,” explained the 2017 U21 European Champion, for whom the Dutchman’s training enthusiasm deserves the most respect: “When you see someone who’s done it for years and had success throughout, that carries you along with him.”

In the evening coach Niko Kovac had almost his entire squad available. Only Corentin Tolisso and Robben are still working on their comeback. Mats Hummels had returned in the morning after a rest day for a back problem, and with him the men from Munich could almost completely get back to work. “The system is great, we have super relationships. We just need to prepare well as a team, so that we can push hard in the second half of the season,” described Gnabry the direction for the remaining days Doha.

Here is a look at day 1