Estranged Bayern Munich midfielder returns to full training

Bayern Munich midfielder João Palhinha has made a return to the grass after a lengthy time out.

The midfielder has not played a match of football for the Bavarians since his eight-minute cameo in the 1-0 win at St. Pauli in the Bundesliga on November 9. 

Palhinha suffered a muscular injury while away on international duty with the Portugal national team for their pair of UEFA Nations League matches against Poland and Croatia.

It was an unfortunate blow at the time for Palhinha because his window for starting minutes was opened with the injury to fellow midfielder Aleksandar Pavlović, who spent a considerable spell on the sidelines. 

Pavlović only just marked his return to action at the beginning of December, starting with a 17-minute appearance in the 1-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen in the DFB-Pokal round of 16 clash at the Allianz Arena. 

Vincent Kompany beckoned on Leon Goretzka alongside Joshua Kimmich in midfield to compensate for the absence of both Palhinha and Pavlović.

In what is perhaps a testament to his love for Bayern and his eagerness to succeed with the club, Palhinha returned to Munich earlier than expected after a few days off for the Christmas holidays.

He came back to the club’s training base early to continue his injury recovery and to help ensure he is ready to take part in full team training when the rest of the squad is back at the training ground to start preparations for the first match of 2025, which is a trip to Borussia Mönchengladbach. 

While there is already no questioning Palhinha’s love for Bayern, his early return has been very well received by Kompany and the rest of the club’s coaching staff and front office. 

Whether or not that will yield more starts for the Portuguese international to start off 2025 remains to be seen, but this gesture certainly would not do anything to take him further away from Kompany’s plans for starting eleven selections to start the new year.

Bayern still has two trophies to win and they have already had a plethora of injury problems so far this season, so Kompany will welcome all the depth he can get as they continue to push across both fronts.