F.Ribery back home

F.Ribery back home

Franck Ribery will make his return to Bundesliga action this weekend as Bayern Munich search for their first win of the season against Werder Bremen.

The French midfielder has been out of action for over three weeks due to a persistent knee injury, but he made his return to action during France's World Cup qualifier against the Faroe Islands yesterday.

Bayern coach Louis van Gaal therefore thinks the Bundesliga's player of the year from 2008 is ready for action.

"He will not start, but maybe he can get 20 minutes," he told Kicker magazine.

"But to me, that is not really what I would call playing."

It will be a light work-out for the 26-year-old, just as long as Bayern can avoid a repeat of the embarrassment from last time they hosted Bremen at the Allianz Arena almost 12 months ago.

Thomas Schaaf's men inflicted the first defeat upon the then Bayern coach Jurgen Klinsmann with a 5-2 triumph in Munich and, after losing 3-2 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on the opening day of the season, a repeat of that would be just what the doctor ordered for Bremen.

That surprise away victory lifted Frankfurt into a share of the lead in the Bundesliga and they have the chance to make it two wins from two at home to Nurnberg this Saturday.

Defending champions Wolfsburg, who lead only on goal difference, travel to Cologne where Lukas Podolski could make his second Bundesliga debut for the Goats on Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund will look to build on their winning start to the season when they head to Hamburg.

Schalke manager Felix Magath was livid with his side in spite of their 2-1 win at Nurnberg last Saturday and he will be hoping for improvements to the performance, even if the same result would do fine, in the first Ruhr derby of the season against Bochum on Sunday.

Hertha Berlin are also in action on Sunday and a win over Borussia Monchengladbach would take them into at least a share of the lead.

Lower down the table, Stuttgart will hope to bounce straight back from their opening day defeat at Wolfsburg and climb off the foot of the table with a win over Freiburg at the renovated Mercedes-Benz Arena.

Bayer Leverkusen and Hoffenheim were both held to draws last weekend and they meet at the BayArena, where a new stadium record crowd of over 30,000 is expected to greet Jupp Heynckes' side to their first home game of the season.

Finally, Hannover coach Dieter Hecking knows his side needs to beat Mainz this Saturday for him to remain in his job and not become the second managerial casualty of the season, at least not just yet.