Bayern injury roundup: Süle doing ball work, Lewandowski on schedule, Perisic close to returning to team training

Does Bayern Munich ever not have a long injury list? Even with the amount of important absentees Bayern has, they’ve been playing some of their best football of the season in recent weeks, and there’s some positive news from the injury front out of Sabener Strasse!

Per kicker, Niklas Süle has started to do some ball work at pace for the first time. After resuming running on the pitch two weeks ago, today he was began doing drills with the ball at his feet, even in stormy weather at Säbener Strasse. The towering center-back expressed his delight with this milestone in his recovery from his cruciate ligament tear:

After more than four months, it feels great to be back on the ball again. It’s really fantastic. It could have snowed today or (Storm) Sabine could have returned, but I wouldn’t have cared. I’m just happy to be training with the ball again and taking the next steps in my rehab.

Both Javi Martinez and Lucas Hernandez also put in shifts on the training pitch while the rest of the squad had the day off. Martinez had just made his return from injury to be in the the squad against Hoffenheim last weekend, but was an unused sub in that game and in Bayern’s win over Schalke in the DFB-Pokal. Hernandez came on as a sub against Hoffenheim, but was not in the squad to face Schalke on account of a slight ligament problem.

Ivan Perisic continued his recovery from a broken ankle in early February. He has begun reduced weight training and is expected to resume team training at some point next week. This weekend’s Bavarian derby against Augsburg might be too early for Kingsley Coman to return, but the French winger completed intensive running drills with progressive overload on his thigh, which he slightly pulled in Bayern’s Champions League win at Chelsea. Hansi Flick said he could be available as early as this Sunday, but that remains questionable.

Photo by M. Donato/FC Bayern via Getty Images

It should also come as no surprise that (the freakishly in-shape) Robert Lewandowski’s recovery is proceeding right on schedule. The target date for his return is April 4th’s Klassiker against Borussia Dortmund. The striker is set to have an MRI scan today to take a closer look at the tibia and knee, where the fracture occurred.