Guardiola’s Bayern training draws thousands

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BERLIN: Around 10,000 fans watched Bayern Munich’s new head coach Pep Guardiola give his first training session on Wednesday as he put the Champions League winners through their paces.

Captain Philipp Lahm, France wing Franck Ribery and Germany stars Toni Kroos and Mario Gomez, who has been linked to Fiorentina, took part as 16 first-team players were joined by seven members of the youth team at Munich’s Allianz Arena.

Having become the first German team to win the treble of European, cup and league titles under predecessor Jupp Heynckes, Bayern took the unusual step of switching Guardiola’s first training session from their Saebener Strasse complex.

Several members of the squad were missing including Brazil pair Dante and Luiz Gustavo, plus Spain’s Javi Martinez, who are all on Confederations Cup duty.

Germany midfielders Mario Goetze, newly-signed from Borussia Dortmund, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Holger Badstuber were also absent as they recover from injury.

Guardiola takes his squad to Trentino, north Italy, on July 4 and the German league champions kick-off the new Bundesliga season at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach on Aug 9. — AFP