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Sports

Monday August 3, 2009

Franck to miss Bayern’s first game

MUNICH: Bayern Munich’s French star Franck Ribery is injured and will miss his team’s start in the new Bundesliga season, the home fixture on Saturday at the Allianz Arena against Hoffenheim.

The man fans once hailed as “Kaiser Franck” is looking far from imperial and the additional recuperation period may give the 26-year-old midfielder time to carry out some public relations to polish up his image.

The player currently tagged “the Bavarian Diva” by German media has missed all the side’s preparation matches since training resumed at Bayern’s Black Forest camp in July.

The France international’s commitment to the mighty south German club has been looking very tarnished after a summer-long sequence of speculation about a possible move to Real Madrid or even to Barcelona or Manchester United.

In the end the big-spending Spanish club went away frustrated, making it clear the asking fee set by Bayern was over the top.

Outspoken Bayern Munich president Franz Beckenbauer blasted Ribery for, in his view, being more interested in his own career than the club and suggested that the player could still be sold – for �94mil.

“Of course we would expect the market price, and if Cristiano Ronaldo is worth �94mil, then Ribery is worth a comparable sum.But if no offer is forthcoming he must fulfil the terms of his contract until 2011,” he told Sport Bild newspaper. — AFP

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