Robben´s delight at return

Bayern Munich midfielder Arjen Robben has described his return to competitive football after an extended injury lay-off as ‘brilliant’.

Robben played 70 minutes as Bayern drew 1-1 with Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday – his first serious hit-out since the Netherlands’ 1-0 defeat in the 2010 World Cup final to Spain in July. Robben succumbed to a hamstring injury shortly after, with his club and country bickering over whether the winger should have played in the tournament at all.

Robben, however, was pleased just to be back in action.

“(It’s) brilliant, it is great to be on the pitch again,” he said.

“It felt a bit unfamiliar in the first half, because I didn’t have a proper warm up, so I had to be very careful.”

“I was able to improve and push myself more in the second half and that felt better. And it is good to know that I can now last for 70 minutes. I can’t wait for the next match on Saturday.”

But while Bayern welcomed back one star midfielder, they are preparing to miss another after Franck Ribery was forced off after 17 minutes with a knee injury.

While the injury is not reportedly as serious as first feared, the France international is unlikely to train this week and is in doubt for Saturday’s Bundesliga meeting with Kaiserslautern.

It is another blow to the defending champions’ efforts to claw back from 16 points behind league-leaders Borussia Dortmund.