Bayern Munich Defender Matthijs de Ligt Nears Comeback After Right Knee Injury 

Bayern Munich player Matthijs de Ligt attends the FC Bayern Munich's annual general meeting in Munich, Germany, 12 November 2023. (EPA)
Bayern Munich player Matthijs de Ligt attends the FC Bayern Munich's annual general meeting in Munich, Germany, 12 November 2023. (EPA)
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Bayern Munich Defender Matthijs de Ligt Nears Comeback After Right Knee Injury 

Bayern Munich player Matthijs de Ligt attends the FC Bayern Munich's annual general meeting in Munich, Germany, 12 November 2023. (EPA)
Bayern Munich player Matthijs de Ligt attends the FC Bayern Munich's annual general meeting in Munich, Germany, 12 November 2023. (EPA)

Bayern Munich defender Mattijs de Ligt is nearing a comeback from the right knee injury which ruled him out for most of the last month, the club indicated Monday.

Bayern said the Netherlands center back was back on the field and “completed an individual session at the training ground on Monday morning.”

De Ligt tore part of a knee ligament on Nov. 1 in Bayern's surprising 2-1 German Cup loss to third-division club Saarbruecken. That prompted concerns he could be a long-term absentee from a first-team squad which only includes two other central defenders, Kim Min-jae and Dayot Upamecano.

Bayern has won all four of its games since then with Kim and Upamecano starting together at center back, including a 4-0 win over Borussia Dortmund. Bayern plays Copenhagen in the Champions League on Wednesday.

De Ligt's injury also ruled him out of the Netherlands' European Championship qualifying games against Ireland and Gibraltar.



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.