Xherdan Shaqiri returns to Bayern Munich training

Bayern Munich received some positive news on Tuesday when Xherdan Shaqiri returned to the training field for the first time since he suffered a tear in his thigh muscle against SC Freiburg back on February 15th.

While it would be very surprising to see Shaqiri in the squad for this weekend's match against Schalke at the Allianz Arena, a better target for his return will be the March 8th match against VfL Wolfsburg. The training that Shaqiri took part in was individual training with the ball. He is expected to return to full training later in the week. FCBayern.de gives us a quote directly from Shaqiri on his return to training, and it's a positive one.

"I'm OK again now and my thigh's not giving me any trouble."

With Shaqiri returning to the pitch sooner rather than later, our eyes drift to the recoveries of Franck Ribery and Thomas Müller. Multiple reports this week state that Ribery has returned to training, albeit in "intense sprint sessions". Speculation on Müller's injury puts him back for either the Wolfsburg or Arsenal match.

There's a reason that Bayern have gone out and built the deepest and best squad in world football, but it's getting quite annoying having to talk about injuries all the time. Without Shaqiri, Ribery, and Müller this weekend, it'll be interesting to see what formation and lineup that Pep Guardiola chooses for the Schalke match.