Loew pleased with Lehmann's Arsenal return <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>BERLIN (AFP) - Germany coach Joachim Loew said Jens Lehmann's return to the Arsenal first-team was a case of perfect timing with Germany facing Euro 2008 hosts Austria in a friendly on Wednesday. The Gunners' first-choice goalkeeper Manuel Almunia has picked up a thumb injury to give Lehmann his first league appearance since August, while German captain Michael Ballack received stitches in a head wound for Chelsea. Both will report for duty when the team meet in Frankfurt on Sunday, but Borussia Moenchengladbach striker Oliver Neuville has succombed to a foot injury and has been ruled out. "Jens return to the Arsenal goal is good news," said Loew. "Perhaps he will get more game time after the match against Austria. It can be assumed Jens will play in Vienna. "But I do not think that Arsene Wenger has changed his opinion about his preferred goalkeeper." Loew is also anxious for news on Bayern Munich striker's Lukas Podolski's slipped disc injury and Ballack's head gash he picked up for Chelsea at Portsmouth. After ten months out of international football with an ankle injury, Ballack's injury is unlikely to stop him winning his 78th cap, his first since March 2007. "I don't think Michael's injury is a big problem," said Loew. Meanwhile Loew has gone on the offensive after Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath's criticism of Jurgen Klinsmann, who Loew helped coach Germany at the 2006 World Cup. Magath had said Germany's third place in 2006 was more down to the players and Germany domestic coaches rather than Klinsmann and Loew's influence, a statement Loew took exception to. "If someone thinks that 20 players just turned up and won, with no influence from the coaches, are mistaken," said Loew. "We developed a range of tactics and improved the fitness considerably, from which the Bundesliga clubs profited."</div>
