Robben could return for Bayern – Guardiola

Arjen Robben could make his long-awaited return to the Bayern Munich squad for Saturday’s home game with Cologne.

The former Real Madrid winger has not appeared for Bayern since injuring a thigh muscle playing for the Netherlands against Iceland on September 3 but is due to return to training on Friday.

Providing he comes through that unscathed he could be included in Pep Guardiola’s group for the meeting with Peter Stoger’s high-flying side.

“It depends on Arjen,” Guardiola said at his pre-match news conference. 

“We’ll talk to him and the doctors after training. If he’s fit he’ll be in the squad.”

Guardiola was also cautiously optimistic about Robben’s fellow winger Franck Ribery, who is also on the comeback trail following a long-term ankle problem.

“Franck has been out longer than if he’d suffered a cruciate ligament injury,” said the former Barcelona boss.

“But the most important thing is the fact he has trained without pain because he has had problems over the past five or six months.”

Bayern’s 12-match winning streak ended on Tuesday with a 2-0 Champions League defeat at Arsenal but Guardiola was not dwelling on the setback in north London.

“When we win we have to forget that victory as quickly as possible, the same goes for defeats,” he said.

Bayern visit Wolfsburg in the DFB-Pokal in midweek but Guardiola insisted his focus will be fully trained on the visit of Cologne to the Allianz Arena.

Asked if he may have one eye on the Wolfsburg game, he joked: “No! Women can multi-task but not me.”