Bayern Munich: We can cope without Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben
Bayern Munich are set to kick off their UEFA Champions League campaign tomorrow against Italian club Roma without the talents of star duo Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben, but the club’s young players believe the team can cope with the pair’s absence.
Ribery was banned for three games in the competition after being sent off in last season’s semi-final first-leg match against Olympique Lyonnais. While this week’s game will be the last of those three matches and he will play an important role in the rest of the group stage games, Bayern will be without the talents of Robben for a longer period of time.
Central defender Badstuber opted to reflect on previous games where the team were missing both players. He said that: "Last season, we showed often enough that we can cover for the absence of Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben."
The Dutch wizard is out of action indefinitely after sustaining a tear in his hamstring. He had initially suffered a tear in his thigh injury prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup and had been expected to miss the tournament but was involved in five matches as Holland reached the final. However, when he returned to Bayern last month, a scan revealed that the player had a five-centimetre tear in the same muscle.
Despite losing such important players, the club’s young stars Thomas Mueller and Holger Badstuber have insisted that the team can cope.
Losing Ribery 'a blow'
Midfielder Mueller told the club’s official website that: "Obviously we’ll miss Franck, especially with the form he’s in. It’s a blow, but we’ve always known he’d be out of this match, and all the squad players are burning for a chance."
Meanwhile, Bayern coach Louis van Gaal said that his team are not the favourites for the champions League even though they were runners-up last season. He told reporters at a press conference today that: "There is only one favourite, that's Barcelona. Then Chelsea and then all the others. My team has more quality than last year though."
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