After missing the training camp last season through a foot injury Bayern Munich captain Manuel Neuer is back this year. “I’m obviously happy to prepare for the second half of the season with the team,” said the 32-year-old after the training session in Doha yesterday. “The aim is to prepare myself so that I’m ready for the start of the second half.”
Bayern have a lot ahead of them in the season’s second half. “We have to make amends and catch up and we’re highly motivated,” said the goalkeeper on going into the second half in the unusual role of hunters not hunted. 
“I would gladly swap places,” said Neuer, but he has by no means given up hope on catching up to league leaders Borussia Dortmund. Over the course of the season every team has a bad patch and “we will see whether this happens to Dortmund.”
Now it’s up to Bayern to continue their most recent performances into the New Year. “Obviously we want to win our games and do our homework. That will be difficult enough,” urged the Bayern captain, for whom the last five wins in the league have given confidence, the last four without conceding. “It was very positive that we managed to go on a run of not conceding and we’ve started the training camp with this feeling,” added the keeper.
This is especially true given that Neuer had to pick the ball out of the back of the net more frequently than he’s been used to in previous years in the first half of the season (18 goals conceded). “Naturally it wasn’t an easy first half because not everything went my way,” admitted the four-time world goalkeeper of the year. 
Bayern are still active in three competitions as well as the DFB Cup last 16 game at Hertha Berlin in February, Neuer and his men also have the prospect of two games against Liverpool in the Champions League last 16 ahead of them. Neuer estimates the chances of FCB progressing as “fifty-fifty.”
“Liverpool are a classy team, strong defensively and on the counter-attack. But we’ve also seen that they’re vulnerable,” said Neuer adding that the opponents hold the utmost respect for the German record champions. “I think Liverpool don’t really want to play against FC Bayern now.”
 Meanwhile, Bayern players spent their free morning in very different ways yesterday. Robert Lewandowski, Leon Goretzka and Mats Hummels enjoyed the sun on the terrace at the team hotel, Corentin Tolisso worked hard on his rehabilitation, while others preferred to spend the time in their rooms. 
Neuer used the free morning to watch a Club Bruges training session with goalkeeper coach Toni Tapalovic on a neighbouring pitch. The Belgians are also completing their winter training at the Aspire Zone facility.
However, nobody in Niko Kovac’s team wanted to leave the site. At the half-way point of the training camp the men from Munich know exactly what they have ahead of them – and therefore they’re enjoying a bit of rest.Neuer revealed how best to deal with the exertions: “When you’ve done one or two training camps before, you know what you’ve got to deal with” explained the 32-year-old. The key is to be diligent beforehands. “If you go into the training camp unprepared, it becomes harder and harder to get up in the morning or complete the second session of the day.”