Bastian Schweinsteiger (r.) says he cannot wait for the second half of the season to start, posting a video of him in a wintry Munich
Bastian Schweinsteiger (r.) says he cannot wait for the second half of the season to start, posting a video of him in a wintry Munich

Bundesliga clubs in training - Updates

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Cologne - With the second half of the season now just days away, all 18 Bundesliga clubs are busy getting back in shape both at home and abroad.

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bundesliga.com has all the latest news and images as the league of the world champions gears up for the Rückrunde.

Tuesday 27 January

Wolves sharpening teeth

FC Bayern may be battling the snow, but VfL Wolfsburg are training just as hard ahead of the

Rückrunde

opener at the Volkswagen Arena.

Schnee

A video posted by javi8martinez (@javi8martinez) on Jan 27, 2015 at 7:50am PST


Returning star

Back a few days earlier than expected, Hannover 96's Hiroshi Kiyotake doesn't appear to be too down in the dumps regarding Japan's early exit from the AFC Asian Cup 2015.

The second H96 training session is underway and Hiroshi Kiyotake is in a good mood upon his return

Home sweet home

They may not be affected by the snow in the southern German states, but for Hertha Berlin it appears there's nothing quite like training on home soil.

Back in Berlin: Training and ball work

Vestergaard relishing Bremen challenge

'I'm coming home'

Ivory Coast striker Didier Ya Konan, who had been plying his trade at Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad since the beginning of the campaign, has returned to Hannover 96 on loan until the end of the season.

Vestergaard joins Werder

1899 Hoffenheim defender Jannik Vestergaard has joined Bundesliga rivals Werder Bremen on a three-and-a-half-year contract.

Congratulations Robbie

Leverkusen have also taken to Twitter to congratulate their Aussie forward, Robbie Kruse, who helped the Socceroos reach the final of the Asian Cup today.

Australia into Asia Cup final

Host outfit the Socceroos have reached the final of the competition, where they will face South Korea in Sidney on Saturday. Dortmund couldn't be happier for their Aussie goalkeeper Mitch Langerak and his team-mates.

Move over New York

This is what Munich looks like this morning. It's doubtful that even FC Bayern could train in a blizzard like that..

Mainz's key to success?

The 05ers will be hoping that Shinji Okazaki and Ja-Cheol Koo are available to face Paderborn at the weekend.

"Shinji and Ja-Cheol say hello from the treatment room. Get well soon!"

One down, one to go

"Werkself training is over. The second session is today at 4 o'clock,"

reads this tweet from Bayer 04.

Götze targeting glory

Yesterday Mario Götze told

Sky

that he believes Bayern have the ability to win the treble this season. That's the spirit! Wolfsburg have been warned.

Birthday greetings...

...for Frankfurt's favourite utility man Aleksandar Ignjovski:

Anticipation building

BVB are getting pretty geared up for their return to Bundesliga action against Leverkusen on Saturday:

Limbering up

Ahead of their game against Hannover this weekend, Schalke fans will be glad to see these two looking sharp in training:

Monday 26 January

Immortalised in wax

FC Bayern fans in Berlin can now get up close and personal with goalkeeper

Manuel Neuer

, or at least, a wax image of him, after Madame Tussauds unveiled their latest creation in the German capital.

"Now there's a new Neuer in Berlin"

reads the custodian's tweet below:

Long wait nearly over

With VfL Wolfsburg and FC Bayern München getting the Bundesliga season back up and running on Friday, fans - and clubs - seemingly cannot wait for the action to resume:

Bremen in good spirits

"Someone's enjoying watching the lads run", reads Bremen's Instagram post below of head coach Viktor Skripnik putting his troops through their paces earlier today:

Da hat jemand Spaß, die Jungs laufen zu sehen! #Skripnik #Werder #Bremen #svw #training

Ein von SV Werder Bremen (@werderbremen) gepostetes Foto am Jan 26, 2015 at 6:44 PST


All smiles at Schalke

Schalke defender Kaan Ayhan has returned to first-team training following a groin injury...

...while Atsuto Uchida was also put through his paces in Monday's session. The Royal Blues face Hannover 96 in their opening

Rückrunde

match this weekend.

Watch Bayern train

Tune in to the Reds' session from this morning, courtesy of FCB.tv:

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!

Here's Schake sending a shout out to their supporters in Australia...

Strewth!

It's Australia Day today, so here's to hoping for a "g'day" to Mitch Langerak, Robbie Kruse, Mathew Leckie and Ben Halloran! 1. FSV Mainz 05 also have a message for their fans over in Oz:

Watch Götze and Co. train LIVE!

The Bavarians are due to train at 11.15 CET this morning, and you can watch a live stream of their session right here on

bundesliga.com

. Head to our

viewing page

for all the details.

Bayern primed

Arjen Robben has ten goals this season and nine in ten appearances against Wolfsburg. Will he continue that remarkable run on Friday and help Bayern extend their 11-point lead at the top? Find out from 20:30 CET, and check out our list of

broadcasters

for where you can watch the action.

Sunday 25 January

Stars out in force

Mario Götze wasn't the only Bayern player in attendance at the Alpine Ski World Cup in Kitzbühel, Austria, today:

Sledging session

It appears Bayer 04 Leverkusen have been making the most of the snow that has fallen in Germany over the past few days.

In the face

The life of a goalkeeper can be a dangerous one when shots are being fired in at goal and it appears Werder Bremen loan signing Koen Casteels may have got a bit too much bang for his buck on Sunday.

Hoffenheim's goal trail

Free-scoring Hoffenheim had their shooting boots on again today, dispatching Romanian side Astra Giurgiu 3-1 in their final warm-up match ahead of the Matchday 18 encounters next weekend.

"We like it a lot!"

reads the caption in the club's tweet earlier today.

Improvising training

The snowfall across Germany has led to some clubs having to adapt the sessions that were planned for today. Werder Bremen's players took part in a game of football tennis, while Gladbach were only able to perform running exercises as apparently even the underground heating was not enough to melt the snow from their training pitch!

You'll catch a cold!

Grandparents everywhere would no doubt scold FC Bayern defender

Rafinha

for being inappropriately dressed in this picture, sporting just a flimsy t-shirt while handling the freshly-fallen snow in Munich.

Mario Kart

Götze is getting up to all sorts in Kitzbühel. There is an Alpine Ski World Cup going on you know, Mario...

Other side of 30

Arjen Robben turned 31 two days ago, and now it's Stefan Kießling's turn. Many happy returns of the day.

Rolling with the celebs

Mario Götze was lucky enough to not just attend the Ski Alpine World Cup in Kitzbühel, Austria - he also met English popstar Ellie Goulding yesterday. Lucky him.

Good advice

It certainly is slippery - this reporter almost fell off his bike on an icy patch of pavement this morning.

Jerome's proud record

Bayern stopper Jerome Boateng is looking to an extend a unique Bundesliga record at Wolfsburg in five days' time:

Snowy Sunday

The white stuff is still covering most of North Rhine-Westfalia this morning, and what an effort this is from an evidently talented Schalke 04 fan:

Saturday 24 January

Mario Götze, up close and personal

After Pep Guardiola's visit to an FC Bayern fan club (see below), midfielders

Mario Götze

and

Javi Martinez

published some photos of their trips to mingle with supporters too.

"Fan visit today! #Thanks."

reads the caption below.

Mixed results

The final whistle has blown on several of clubs' final warm-up games, albeit with varying degrees of success for the Bundesliga representatives:

Not another injury, surely?

After losing Sven Bender, Erik Durm and Sebastian Kehl to injury in 2015 already, Borussia Dortmund fans will be hoping midfield string-puller

Ilkay Gündogan

has not done any serious damage after being substituted off early on in BVB's friendly with Fortuna Düsseldorf this afternoon.

Fan-friendly Bundesliga

Taking advantage of their relatively quiet schedule during the winter break, various members of the FC Bayern camp are paying regional fan clubs a visit today. Here's head coach

Pep Guardiola

arriving in the town of Greding, 114 kilometres north of Munich.

Winter wonderland

Werder Bremen are raring to go ahead of their final warm-up game prior to the Bundesliga restart, facing fellow top-flight rivals Hannover 96 away. Spanish defender

Alejandro Galvez

appears to be in good spirits, despite the heavy snowfall...

AfCon update

Ivory Coast face Mali first up today, before Cameroon take on Ibrahima Traore's Guinea. The Borussia Mönchengladbach winger starred in his side's opener against the Ivorians but is now targeting a win to put the National Elephants within touching instance of the quarter-finals.

Let it snow

This was the the scene outside Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park this morning. It is the winter break, to be fair...

Meeting the fans

Bayern have over 3,000 fanclubs in Germany alone, so if they choose to visit yours, you'd better make sure you're there.

Gentner's game face

Stuttgart are also on their way back home from their training camp in Portugal, and captain Christian Gentner has a message for all the club's fans:

"So, we're about to get going. We've worked well at our training camp here in Portugal and we're now looking forward to Stuttgart again."

Inspirational stuff.

Hertha ready for home

The Berliners are preparing to return to Germany today following the end of their winter training camp in Belek, Turkey.

"Thanks for the week!"

says this tweet:

Friday 23 January

Homeward bound

FC Schalke 04 are keeping you well apprised of their movements as they head to Austria to take on SK Rapid Wien tomorrow. Austrian international Christian Fuchs seems particularly pleased to be heading home.

Winning Wolves

VfL Wolfsburg were forced to come from behind to emerge victorious from their mid-season friendly with Karlsruher SC, currently sitting second in the Bundesliga 2. Two goals in the second half for the Wolves turned the game on its head to ensure they picked up positive result in their last outing ahead of their clash with FC Bayern on 30 January.

Birthday brace

It was a comfortable victory in the end for Bundesliga table-toppers FC Bayern München in their final warm-up game of the mid-season hiatus. Meanwhile, Arjen Robben seemed pleased with making it a birthday to remember.

Birthday boy strikes

They fell behind early, but FC Bayern have since assumed complete control of their friendly with VfL Bochum 1848.

Back of the net

FC Schalke 04 prove that no matter how it happens it's always worth celebrating beating the opposition keeper.

Back in action

League leaders FC Bayern München are set to take to the pitch for the last time before their clash with VfL Wolfsburg on 30 January.

Last stretch of the legs

FC Schalke 04's squad appear to be in good spirits as the jet to Austria for their final friendly of the winter break.

The old John Hancock

Some of SV Werder Bremen's younger squad members put in some valuable face time in a local department store.

Ready for a scrap

With SV Werder Bremen doing everything they can to avoid relegation from Germany's top flight it appears loan-signing Koen Casteels isn't short of the fighting spirit that will be required should he be handed a starting role.

Billy Goats shaping up

Köln have one final friendly before they travel to Hamburg on Bundesliga Matchday 18 next Saturday.

Mhkitaryan chomping at the bit

How about another encouraging sight for Dortmund fans?

New boots for Kevin

He used to wear Nike but now's he's moved on to Puma. Dortmund fans will hope Kevin Großkreutz's new footwear does the trick for him.

Another birthday boy

Hertha's Alexander Baumjohann is also celebrating today - he turns 28.

Zambrano focused

Frankfurt's Carlos Zambrano is hard at work on preparing for next week's game at Freiburg.

"Let's keep going."

reads this tweet:

Go Arjen, it's your birthday

Here's Thiago Alcantara's public tribute to team-mate Arjen Robben:

Basti on board

Bastian Schweinsteiger (with assistant coach Hermann Gerland) is raring to go for the Reds' final warm-up game before the league resumes next Friday:

Final test

If there is to be any cake for Robben's birthday, it will have to wait until after Bayern's final warm-up match ahead of the Bundesliga restart. They face Bundesliga 2 side VfL Bochum this evening.

Hard at work

VfB Stuttgart are still hard at work as their training camp in Lagos nears its conclusion. This morning, they will be working hard in the gym before going for a run later...

Arjen man

Three Bundesliga titles, three DFB Cups, two German Super Cups, a UEFA Champions League, a FIFA Club World Cup, 185 appearances, 101 goals and 65 assists and counting for Arjen Robben at Bayern München. Happy 31st birthday!

Another day on the dollar...

Thursday 22 January

Thiago working up a sweat

FC Bayern midfielder

Thiago

is busy getting back into shape following his latest injury. It is not yet known when he'll be able to make his comeback out on the pitch though.

Naldo injured

Wolfsburg defender

Naldo

was unable to take part in training today due to a knee injury and will be unavailable for the club's friendly against Karlsruher SC tomorrow. The seriousness of the injury is as yet unknown, but the Wolves will be hoping he returns to fitness in time to face FC Bayern in the Matchday 18 curtain-raiser next week.

Blow for Gladbach

High-flying Borussia Mönchengladbach will have to make do without winger

Andre Hahn

for the time being due to achilles trouble.

Greetings from Götze

If only we were all on our way to line-up alongside a star-studded squad! Though we'd be less thrilled about the intense training under Pep Guardiola's watchful eye.

Thursday 22 January