Bayern Munich's treatment room finally produced some good news on Thursday: Luis Díaz trained with the team for the first time since tearing a muscle against Arsenal on 21 October, a significant milestone in a recovery that has already cost him five matches.
The 29-year-old Colombia winger completed parts of the session at Säbener Straße, as reported by Bundesliga.com, having followed an individual training programme since the injury. Díaz had been substituted just 22 minutes after coming on in the 2-2 Champions League draw with Arsenal, and Bayern have had to cope without his direct running and pressing ever since.
Three weeks out and five games missed
A muscle tear is the kind of injury Bayern could ill afford in the middle of a congested autumn, and the timing was cruel: Díaz was hurt in that European game against Arsenal, and he has since missed five matches in all competitions while the squad stretched thinner around him.
Thursday's session was held largely with reserve-team players because of the international window, which made it an ideal low-pressure environment for a first run-out with the group. Bulinews likewise confirmed that Díaz took part in team training for the first time since last month and will continue his rehabilitation in Munich, targeting a return to action before the end of the month.
Musiala alongside him, but the queue is still long
Díaz was not the only familiar face stepping up his work. Jamal Musiala also took part as he continues his own recovery from a muscle injury, while youngster Bara Sapoko Ndiaye was involved again following an appendectomy.
There was encouragement off the pitch too, with head coach Vincent Kompany back at the training complex to undergo a rehabilitation programme on an injured shoulder, having previously been absent and under medical observation — a return BTFW covered when Kompany first came back to the training ground earlier this month.
Yet Bayern remain without a string of first-team regulars. Manuel Neuer sustained a foot injury at Mainz on Matchday 9 — the latest setback in a season of goalkeeping worries BTFW tracked when Neuer was ruled out for two months — while Ismael Saibari, who needed surgery on his right ankle, and Serge Gnabry, with a hamstring injury, were both hurt in the 2-2 Klassiker draw against Borussia Dortmund on 31 October.
What his return changes for Bayern's restart
Bayern resume their campaign at home to 1. FC Köln on Friday 20 November, and the realistic question is not whether Díaz starts that night but how quickly he can be trusted with real minutes again. Muscle injuries punish impatience: a player who returns a week early and breaks down again loses a month, and Bayern's staff have deliberately staged his comeback from individual work to partial team training rather than rushing a date into print.
Get the sequencing right, though, and the effect is significant. Díaz gives Kompany a left-sided runner who attacks the space behind full-backs, stretches a defence horizontally and presses with an intensity few in the squad match. With Musiala also nearing a return, Bayern's attack could look transformed within a fortnight — provided neither man suffers the relapse that muscle injuries so often threaten.
Beyond the Final Whistle: this is the update Bayern needed, but it is a milestone, not a comeback. Díaz in parts of a reserve-heavy session is still two steps from Díaz deciding a Bundesliga game, and Bayern are right to resist naming a date. If he comes through full training next week unscathed, Köln can be his reintroduction and the European test that follows his real examination — rush him, and this same story gets written again in December.
Bayern fans — would you start Díaz against Köln if he is passed fit, or protect him for the bigger tests ahead? Tell us in the comments.
