Bayern galvanised by Toni return

Italian centre forward Luca Toni will feature in Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga match against Wolfsburg on Saturday after a month and a half out through injury, his coach Jurgen Klinsmann revealed.

“It’s very important that Luca is available again and that he has recovered,” Klinsmann said Friday. “With him, we have a completely different presence in attack. He can occupy two defenders on his own.”

The 31-year-old Italy international, last season’s Bundesliga top scorer, made his last appearance for the defending champions in their 2-1 defeat at Hertha Berlin on February 14.

He played in the 5-0 thrashing of Sporting Lisbon in the last 16 of the Champions League on February 25 but was then forced out of action by an injury to his Achilles tendon.

“I can’t promise that I’m on top of my game, but what I can say is that I’m unbelievably keen to play,” Toni said.

“As it’s an important match and because I haven’t played for a while, I’ll give 110 per cent in the game,” he added, having promised this week to run naked through the centre of Munich if his side win the Champions League.

In Toni’s absence, Klinsmann has been forced to rely on Lukas Podolski, whose fellow German international striker Miroslav Klose is recovering from an ankle injury.

Bayern and Wolfsburg are locked together in the German championship, one point behind leaders Hertha Berlin and with the same number of points and the same goal difference.

Should Bayern win and Hertha fail to achieve all three points at home to Dortmund on Saturday, the Bavarian giants will go top for the first time this campaign.

“We’ve had too many false starts this season,” Klinsmann said. “The players have no more excuses. We must finally go top.”