Bright sunshine greeted head coach Niko Kovac and the FC Bayern pros for Wednesday morning's training session at Säbener Straße. New signing Ivan Perisic also took to the pitch for his first workout with his teammates. Despite making a strong impression, the striker will not be available for the season opener in two days' time against Hertha Berlin. The 30-year-old will miss out due to arriving at Bayern with a suspension after receiving his fifth yellow card while playing in Serie A.
"I wish it weren't the case," said the Bayern coach, "but you have to accept the suspension, even though it doesn't exist in this form in Germany. The 47-year-old said he was surprised by this himself, as in contrast to Italy, in the Bundesliga, a fifth yellow from the last game of the season does not get carried over into the new season. "But if that's the case, we accept it!" he added.
Javi Martínez is also not yet fit enough to play in the Bundesliga opener. The Spaniard "hasn't yet trained with the team. The doctors have imposed a short training ban on him. He's trained in the weights room and is still receiving individual supervision," said Kovac, who can otherwise draw on the full resources of his squad: "Everyone else is fit and well!" The final training session is scheduled for Friday and "then we'll start on Friday with a full orchestra", the football tactician continued.
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