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Rediff.com  » Sports » Champions League: Bayern's injury woes continue as Ribery out vs City

Champions League: Bayern's injury woes continue as Ribery out vs City

September 17, 2014 10:06 IST
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Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery

Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

Bayern Munich will be without experienced Franck Ribery when they meet Manchester City in their Champions League Group E opener on Wednesday with fellow winger Arjen Robben also doubtful, coach Pep Guardiola said.

Frenchman Ribery made his Bundsliga season debut on Saturday following weeks out with a knee injury, making a short appearance as a substitute and scoring in a 2-0 win over VfB Stuttgart.

"He is not here, he is at home," the Spanish coach told reporters on Tuesday when asked about Ribery's condition.

"He went to the doctor on Monday and today they told me he cannot play."

Dutchman Robben is also nursing a knee injury and sat out the game against Stuttgart.

"Arjen is here for training. But this is his first team training this week and we have to see how it goes," Guardiola added.

Bayern have been plagued by injuries with central defender Holger Badstuber tearing a thigh muscle tendon on Saturday and requiring surgery.

He joins Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thiago Alcantara, Rafinha and Javi Martinez on the sidelines.

We will show absolute respect for Zlatan, but no fear: Ajax coach

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

Ajax coach Frank de Boer has warned his players not to focus only on Zlatan Ibrahimovic when the Swedish international marks his return to Amsterdam to play against the club where he first made his mark.

"It does not revolve only around Zlatan," De Boer said about the French champions' top scorer on the eve of the Group F match in which Ajax will hope to shrug off a stuttering start to the season.

“We will show absolute respect for Zlatan, but no fear," added De Boer.

"We are simply going to try and neutralise him, without crossing any boundaries.

“PSG are an absolute top team, particularly with their players. With (Gregory) van der Wiel and Maxwell they have two attacking backs. Also Thiago Motta and Marco Verratti are two forward thinking midfielders.

"It is a difficult group, but we showed last year that we can pick up points,” said the Ajax coach, whose side also face Cypriot side APOEL and Barcelona in the section.

Ajax have won the last four Dutch championships but have already lost three times this season – in the Super Cup and in two of their five domestic league matches. “It is clear that we could have done better in the last weeks. It could have even been better against Heracles (who Ajax beat 2-1 on Saturday to snap a run of two defeats). But I did see some good things,” added de Boer.

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