Bayern hit French with FIFA threat over Ribery woes

Bayern Munich have hit out at France’s national team for their treatment of Franck Ribery, and are set to lodge an official complaint with football’s world ruling body FIFA.

Ribery has endured injury woes since before the start of the season and was called up to play for France against Spain in a March 3 friendly despite having injured his ankle playing for his Bundesliga club days earlier.

Bayern chiefs now blame France for helping to aggravate that injury, claiming Ribery received poor medical treatment by doctors of the national team in the days leading to the game.

“We never want to find ourselves in a situation like this again,” said Bayern president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge on the club’s website.

“The France team has done us no favours at all.”

Ribery initially injured his ankle playing against Hamburg on February 28 and spent the next two days receiving treatment in France before the Spain friendly.

Since the France v Spain match, which he did not finish, Ribery appeared as a substitute against Cologne on March 6, then played in Bayern’s Champions League encounter against Fiorentina three days later.

It was in that encounter, which sealed Bayern’s passage to the quarter-finals of the competition, that Ribery aggravated his ankle injury.

He will now have to sit on the sidelines for Bayern for the second consecutive week, and Rummenigge blames it all on him being called up for the Spain friendly.

“Before this match he hadn’t trained on the Monday or the Tuesday. During those days he was getting treatment (in France) and what’s more it wasn’t carried out properly,” added Rummenigge.

“Now, it’s us who gets to pick up the cost.”

The 26-year-old Ribery has a Bayern contract until June 2011 but he has recently been linked to European giants Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United.