The transfer window, though ultimately stagnant for Bayern Munich, was not without our particular brand of FC Hollywood drama. Danijel Pranjic and Franck Ribery have both publicly voiced their displeasure with January's lack-of-outcome.

Hello, February! The transfer window has come and gone, and Christian Nerlinger wasn't lying: Nobody came and nobody went. The closest things Bayern has to new signings are the imminent arrival of Arjen Robben's third child, and of course, all of us: Bayern's 12th men. Pfffft.

Eight days of humility. Not only did we get our proverbial butts kicked by 'Gladbach last Friday, then the Bayern PR team becomes the laughing stock of the footballing world with an ill-timed "new signing" press conference. Ah, another Facebook application! Just what I always wanted! Errrrrr... nope. I was, however, recovering from London and sleeping through the whole PR stunt. So, I wasn't really too bothered.

"We started extremely s***tily. In stages, it was OK, then it was s***t again. Then we tried again and then it was s***t once more." - Thomas Mueller rather neatly sums it up.

Ah, and we all had such high hopes for this match, now, didn't we? Coming off a stellar winter training camp, all the Bayern players happy, all the bosses exuberant and Schweinstieger fit... What could possibly go wrong?

Ahhhh... so the Rueckrunde is finally here. Many of us were bored for a month, or settling for watching matches in other leagues; but with the European Championships in June, I will take this break in stride- not only for the DFB, but also Bayern Munich. I have a feeling it will pay dividends.

Hello, all. I am hoping everyone had a fabulous holiday season! Mine was work-filled and super-annoying, but such is the life of a bartender. Recovering from a rocky finish to the first half of the season, die Roten are currently in mid-season practice in the middle of the desert, and, as I'm writing this, are matching up against Al-Alhy: the Egyptian powerhouse.

In a turn-around of what was originally expected, Jupp Heynckes did, indeed, field a sub-par starting XI in Manchester on Wednesday. With Bastian Schweinsteiger still out for a couple of weeks, Toni Kroos and Arjen Robben not even making the flight to Ingerland, and then the subsequent flu scares of Thomas Mueller and Mario Gomez, Jupp let the bench play.

*In legendary boxing announcer Micheal Buffer's voice*

In the powder blue corner, the challenger for progression to the Champions League elimination rounds: The Citizens! Manchester City FC! Winners of England's Premiere title in '37 and '68, and FA Cup winner in 2010.

And, in the red corner, die Roten! (And the crowd goes wild!) The Rekordmeisters of Deutschland! Winners of 22 Bundesliga titles, 15 Pokal titles, one Europa League title and four Champions League titles: FC Baaaaaayerrrrnnnn Muuuuuuuenchen!

*Cue "Champions League Anthem"*!

Tuesday afternoon I was sitting in my local, waiting for the Champions League matches to begin. The television showing Bayern - Villareal was next to the one showing the Napoli - Manchester City match; so, I was next to a bunch of City supporters. And since everyone knows I write this column, I field a lot of questions about Bayern, in particular, and German football, in general.

After the disappointment that was the Hannover 96 match, die Roten have racked up an impressive-sounding ten goals in two subsequent outings. Well, I say "impressive-sounding" because when you consider the opponents- FC Ingolstadt and FC Nuernberg- the results were to be fully expected.