Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 9y

Nicklas Bendtner left out of Wolfsburg squad after turning up late for training

Nicklas Bendtner was dropped from Wolfsburg's matchday squad for Sunday's draw against Schalke after showing up an hour late for the final training session before the Bundesliga clash.

Bendtner, 27, struck his fifth goal in 25 games for Wolfsburg last Thursday, scoring the late consolation goal in the 4-1 Europa League loss to Napoli.

But three days later, the Denmark international did not make the squad for the draw against Schalke as punishment for being late on Saturday.

"He was late for the final training session on Saturday. We have strict rules, and that resulted in him not making the squad," Wolfsburg sporting executive Klaus Allofs told kicker. "He was an hour late.

"He certainly did not do that on purpose. He simply assumed a wrong time."

Allofs added that the "unnecessary" incident will "have no consequences" for Bendtner's future at the club, where he is under contract until 2017.

"I think there are many options to find out when we have training. And the traffic in Wolfsburg is not that bad so that you are forced to be late for training," he said. "But in all seriousness, we don't need to big this up. I want to emphasise that we don't condemn him outright."

Bendtner appeared to issue an apology via a post onĀ Instagram on Sunday evening.

In February, Bendtner told German paper Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung that it took him a while to understand the training mentality in the Bundesliga.

"It wasn't like I was running backwards, but I needed to understand the German training culture," he said. "At first, it was hard to conceive that performances in training are very important."

The former Arsenal striker has also changed the way he dressed since making the move from London to Wolfsburg, adding: "I decided that I no longer want to show up that well-dressed for training.

"I like to wear suits, but the other players thought it was a bit too much for training. That's why I left most of those clothes in London."

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