Bayern anger over injured van Bommel

Bayern Munich are to lodge a formal complaint to UEFA and are considering legal action against the Dutch football federation after their captain Mark van Bommel returned injured from national duty.

On Tuesday, hours before the Dutch faced Sweden in a Euro 2012 qualifier, Bayern had demanded the Dutch federation (KNVB) not to field the midfielder after he had picked up an injury against Moldova last Friday.

The plea fell on deaf ears with van Bommel playing for 70 minutes before Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk – his father-in-law – replaced him.

But Bayern’s ire has been provoked when van Bommel came back injured to the club that will rule him out for the next two matches.

“Mark van Bommel returned to Munich this Wednesday…he was examined by the club’s doctor, Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt, who noticed the injuries,” a statement said.

According to Bayern van Bommel has a torn tissue and bruising to the right knee, requiring “complete rest” for the next five days followed by a further five days recovery.

“He will therefore be missing at least for the Bundesliga game against Hanover (on Saturday) and the Champions League tie with Cluj (the following Tuesday),” Bayern stated.

Bayern “is going to make UEFA aware of this affair in the coming days and is keeping open the possibility of legal action against the KNVB,” the statement warned.

Bayern president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge added: “It is unfortunately exactly as we’d feared.”

He criticised the manner in which “a federation defends exclusively its interests in putting the health of a player on the line”.

Bayern and the Dutch federation have been at loggerheads ever since the World Cup and the case of Bayern’s Arjen Robben who played for his country in South Africa despite a thigh injury which has kept him sidelined all season.