Bayern Munich leap to Arturo Vidal's defence

03 February 2016 04:53

Bayern Munich's director of sport Matthias Sammer says the Bundesliga side will take legal action against a German magazine which claimed that Arturo Vidal had been involved in a series of off-field incidents since arriving at the club.

Sport Bild magazine claimed that midfielder Vidal had left the club's winter training camp in Doha and returned in the early hours smelling of alcohol.

Not only did Sammer refute the report, he said Bayern would not tolerate it either and suggested that somebody is trying to destabilise the club to "make the Bundesliga more exciting."

"Arturo is in very, very good form and I was very surprised by what I read," Sammer said at a press conference in Munich on Wednesday.

"(The alleged incident) is not true and is a falsehood. We have an absolutely close relationship with Arturo and of course we have spoken to him about one or two subjects.

"He has also told us that there is no truth to it, not just Qatar but in general. We as a club are going to take action about it, that is for certain.

"Maybe somebody is trying to make the Bundesliga more exciting by opposing Bayern Munich in any which way they can, but all I can say is that they will succeed only in doing the opposite.

"We will pull closer together and not allow this. As far as Vidal is concerned, we will be taking legal action."

Vidal will also take action against the publication.

The Chilean, who joined Bayern from Juventus in the summer, posted on his Twitter page: "I would like to say that the "news" published today in a german newspaper are absolutely false.

"My lawyers have been already instructed to initiate a legal claim against the newspaper, which will be responsible of their lies.

" Thanks to my Club for their support."

Source: PA