Ribery says rejected French steroid injection

France's star winger Franck Ribery said he refused a cortisone injection that French experts claim could have saved his World Cup place because he believed it was bad for him.
Ribery's comments deepened a battle between the French camp and Bayern Munich on the eve of the country's opening World Cup Group E match against Honduras.
"It's not good," Ribery said of the cortisone steroid injection that French team doctor Franck Le Gall had wanted him to take to ease his crippling back pain.
Le Gall said on Thursday that Ribery had withdrawn from the squad because he was afraid of injections.

The Bayern Munich and German national team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt retorted the next day that Ribery would be playing at the World Cup if France had used his calf's blood extract. The product used by the German doctor is banned in France.
The 31-year-old Bayern winger said he had simply refused the cortisone injection.

"I am not scared of injections. But I did not want to be injected with cortisone by the French doctor," Ribery told the SID sports agency of Germany, an affiliate of AFP, in a written statement.
"I know it is not good," he added.
"You can believe me," he said "my career is going to continue longer" without the cortisone.

Ribery gave strong support to Muller-Wohlfahrt whose treatment protocol came under attack from the French medical staff.