THE BLOG BY CPD FOOTBALL | The World of Indian football and beyond by Chris Punnakkattu Daniel

India players excited to take on FC Bayern Munich

India vs FC Bayern München – Audi Football Summit

The Indian national team is looking forward to take on German giants FC Bayern Munich in the “Audi Football Summit” on January 10, 2012. The match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi will be the official farewell game of legendary India skipper Baichung Bhutia.

The Bundesliga team will be traveling to India with a full strength squad at the end of of their winter training camp in Doha, Qatar. Indian football fans will be able to see many superstars of the beautiful game like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller and many more locking horns with India’s best to honour one of India’s all-time best.

“My career has been a great learning for me, a wonderful experience,. My 16 year international football career has made me richer in experience and I have grown as a person. Playing my final India match against Bayern Munich is a great honour, but also a tough finale for me. Bayern are one of the best teams in the world and I rate them as better than Germany,” Baichung Bhutia said.

“Indian football is moving in a positive direction with the Indian team qualifying for the Asian cup after a gap of 27 years. In addition to this, the junior teams and the developmental team are making good progress on the Asian front.  I believe that it will not be long before we see Indian players plying their trade on the international club circuit,” Baichung added.

India coach Savio Medeira is hoping to gain a few positiv experiences through the match against one of world’s best football clubs. “It’s not every day that you get a chance to play against the best in the world. It would be a learning experience for us,” Savio told.

Star striker Sunil Chhetri, who has been named “AIFF Indian Player of the Year 2011” a few days ago, said: “With the phase which Indian football is going through, the more we play stronger opponents, the better for us. You get to play Bayern Munich possibly once in a lifetime. We ought to make the most of it.”

“The opportunity to play with one of the top clubs would be an experience indeed. It gives us the opportunity to improve ourselves,” youngster Jeje Lalpekhlua felt.

“It will be a great opportunity to be playing on the same field that too against such star players. It’s also an honour to be a part of Baichung Bhutia’s farewell match. I’m looking forward to it,” India defender Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh told.

The India vs FC Bayern Munich match is scheduled to kick-off at 18.00 IST (13.30 CET / 12.30 GMT). The opening ceremony will be held at 17.30 IST (13.00 CET / 12.00 GMT).

The India finals of the FC Bayern Youth Cup will be also held at the sidelines of the big match. The finals will take place at 16.00 IST (11.30 CET /10.30 GMT).

TEN Action+ will broadcast the match LIVE in India, while SAT.1 will show the match in Germany. Additional live stream will be also available online at ran.de, the sports portal of the German tv channel.

I will provide you a few more stories and features in the build-up to the India vs FC Bayern Munich match. So keep on tracking www.chrispd.de and www.facebook.com/cpd81 regularly!

Ticket for the match are available at www.audifootballsummit.in.

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(Written with excerpts from an Audi Press Release)