Pep Guardiola held a press conference on Saturday in Qatar. In the press conference he was asked about Real Madrid’s French defender Raphaël Varane and Holger Badstuber.

Before the press conference, a Marca report that came out a few hours earlier in the day. The Spanish paper released a big front page story stating that Bayern Munich were going to make a big push to sign Real Madrid's Raphaël Varane and that the Guardiola’s side would pay whatever it took to get him.

In the report, Marca said Bayern ‘need’ to sign Varane to fix defensive problems. However, the Bavrian manager was quick to play down these reports "No. It's false,"

"This newspaper has also written that the sports director of Sevilla is coming to replace Matthias Sammer, and Matthias Sammer has extended his contract. MARCA doesn't have my phone number, but perhaps they have the phone number of Jorge Mendes. This is obviously wrong."

Badstuber has only played four competitive matches since December 1, 2012, and all of those came at the beginning of this season.

Resilient Badstuber has managed to come back from two complete ACL tears to the same knee and conspired against Holger with thigh injury to sideline him once again.

And just before the first team travelled to the Middle East, there was a boost for Badstuber as he started running again, where he is seen pictured with Alaba on their road to recovery.

Badstuber (left) doing individual training with David Alaba (right) credit: hbadstuber28 on Instagram

Guardiola spoke of his hope for the 25 year olds recovery and of his performances prior to his injury. "I have great faith in the quality of Holger Badstuber. All we have to worry about now in his current situation is that he doesn't sustain another injury. If he's fit, Holger Badstuber is an absolute top player,”

Badstuber has engaged in all drills with the club in Qatar and should be prepared to return to the field when Bayern plays the first match of the Rückrunde against VfL Wolfsburg at the end of this month.

“He showed outstanding performances for Bayern Munich before he sustained his most recent injury in the early season Bundesliga match against Schalke."

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