Neuer officially returns to training with the ball for FC Bayern

The latest news to have come out of FC Bayern München this afternoon is the return of 38-year-old goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to training at the Säbener Straße. Bild reports that the exercise he took part in was very relaxed but including the ball, with the intensity of training to gradually increase over time.

Neuer has been absent for two weeks, having suffered a torn muscle fibre in his right calf in the fifty-fourth minute of Bayern's 3-0 victory against Bayer Leverkusen, in the first leg of their Champions League round of sixteen matchup on March 5. He pulled it while celebrating Jamal Musiala's goal that doubled the lead, and had to be substituted off four minutes later, with Jonas Urbig entering in his place.

This comes at a time where FC Bayern are trying to figure out their goalkeeping issues, after Urbig's foot injury has forced him to miss out on playing for the German U21 national team and will also see him stop training for 4-5 days at the club level.

Sky's Florian Plettenberg reports that Bayern are hoping that Neuer is ready in time for the match against FC St. Pauli, their first following the international break, at Allianz Arena on March 29. If that is not the case, then Daniel Peretz, Bayern's third-string goalkeeper, could be seeing playing time against St. Pauli, his first match since a 5-1 victory on December 20 2024 against RB Leipzig, and his fourth in the season.

The other Bayern players who will be not be representing Germany during the international window (these being Thomas Müller, Serge Gnabry, and Sven Ulreich) are resting until Sunday. Sacha Boey (France), Eric Dier (England), and Raphaël Guerreiro (Portugal) will not be playing for their respective national teams either, and will follow the same training schedule.