Robben, Alaba, Ulreich join Bayern Munich practice

Doha, Jan 10: Injured Arjen Robben, David Alaba and Sven Ulreich took part in Bayern Munich's morning squad training session on Sunday for the first time since the Bavarian football giants arrived here.

Head coach Pep guardiola supervised the 90-minute work-out involving 26 players at the Aspire Academy practice pitch.

“That was just the first day and I need to build it up from here,” Robben, who has been laid low by the flu since the new year, told the club's website.

“It’s dumb really. I’ve barely left my hotel room over the first few days. That’s not great,” said the Dutch intertiol, his voice betraying the last traces of a cold.

The winger, who pulled a muscle in the 4-0 victory over Olympiacos in late November in the European champions League, was hoping to use the perfect conditions in Doha to recover peak form as quickly as possible, but the winter illness means he will need to proceed a little slower than planned.

The 31-year-old said he had no intention of putting himself under any pressure to make a potentially over-hasty comeback.

Alaba (ankle) and Ulreich (hamstring) also completed Sunday’s session.

“I’m going for it as of now,” declared Austrian defender Alaba after an intensive 90 minutes. “I’m feeling very good and it’s all gone nice and quickly. I’m really happy about that."

Mario Gotze, Franck Ribéry and Mehdi Betia are also making good progress and continued to work on tailored rehab drills.

“I’m working very hard and I can do a bit more every day. That’s great,” Ribéry told FCB.tv. “I’m feeling good and I hope I’ll be back with the team in a couple of weeks.” IANS