Bayern newcomer Rudy ready for Hoffenheim return

Bayern Munich will be without defender David Alaba when they travel to Hoffenheim tomorrow but Sebastian Rudy and Niklas Suele are ready for a first return to their former club as the champions look to take over the top spot in the Bundesliga.Alaba suffered an ankle injury while on international duty with Austria this week and will be out for some time, Bayern said.The length of the defender’s absence is not yet clear but there was good news for Carlo Ancelotti’s team with Rudy, who was also injured in Germany’s 6-0 victory over Norway on Monday, being declared fit for tomorrow.Midfielder Rudy trained alone on Wednesday but is expected to return to team practice later yesterday.Both Rudy and central defender Suele, another Germany international, moved to Bayern after a sensational season at Hoffenheim that saw them finish fourth in the Bundesliga.Bayern are on six points from two victories from two matches with a slightly worse goal difference than leaders Borussia Dortmund but that means little so early in the season.For Suele and Rudy, however, the battle for a starting spot has long started and with seven games scheduled for the next 23 days, including in the Champions League, they know they need to be ready at any time. “I have to stay consistent for years and I have to continue the same way,” Rudy said this week. “My aim is to establish myself at Bayern.”It may be somewhat easier for Rudy, with Xabi Alonso and Philipp Lahm retired, than for Suele, who faces fierce competition from established internationals such as Mats Hummels, Javi Martinez and Jerome Boateng. The latter two have now recovered from injuries and want their starting spots back, while Hummels is currently considered the only automatic starter of the four. Hoffenheim’s Serge Gnabry has made the opposite trip, signing for Bayern this season but going on loan for a year to Hoffenheim.The forward would like to show Bayern what he has got but an ankle injury could rule him out for the game.Dortmund will look to protect their lead when they travel to Freiburg while RB Leipzig play today against Hamburg SV, who have enjoyed their best start in eight season with two wins out of two games.Bayern star Ribery relishing PSG clashFranck Ribery is relishing Bayern Munich’s Champions League showdown against Paris Saint-Germain with the French veteran insisting he will not retire even if the Germans win this season’s European title.Bayern open their Champions League campaign at home to Anderlecht next Tuesday having also drawn Paris Saint-Germain and Celtic, who face the French league giants in Glasgow on the same day. PSG then host Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern at the Parc des Princes on September 27 in a key showdown which could decide Group B.“Paris is a lot stronger than last season, it will be a super game. I hope we are all in top form. And we need to go out thinking ‘we’re Bayern. We fear no one. Wherever we play, we win’,” Ribery told German daily Bild.“Anyone who fears Paris, stays in Munich.”The 34-year-old Ribery has been at Bayern since 2007 and his current contract expires next June.He was part of the Bayern team which beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the 2013 Champions League final in London when Arjen Robben scored the winner.However, former France star Ribery says he will not hang up his boots even if the Bavarians lift the trophy in next May’s final in Kiev. “I want to win the Champions League once more. That is my dream! That is my adrenalin, my motivation,” he said.“I also can’t say if this will be my last season. I am fit and healthy, I can still play for two or three years. I love football. I don’t want to sit at home, I want to play.” Ribery hopes to be offered a contract extension with fellow veteran winger Robben also out of contract in June 2018.“I have been here for ten years, Arjen for eight,” said Ribery. “We have always fought hard and won a lot. I think the fans and the club can be very happy with us.”