From social distancing substitutes using airport stairs, to disinfected balls and a potential television audience of one billion, the Bundesliga enjoyed a chequered restart as the first major sports league to resume amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The German top two divisions, suspended since mid-March due to the virus, returned on Saturday, including the Bundesliga’s showcase — the Ruhr Valley Derby or Revierderby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 — as football-starved fans around the globe tuned in to watch live action.
Dortmund made a rousing restart thrashing their traditional rivals 4-0 to close the gap on champions and leaders Bayern Munich to one point.
The outcome of the match played with no spectators present left second-placed Dortmund on 54 points from 26 games, behind Bayern who visit Union Berlin on Sunday.
Dortmund, who had won seven of their last eight games before the league was halted in mid-March, picked up where they left off as Portugal midfielder Raphael Guerreiro scored twice while Erling Haaland and Thorgan Hazard added a goal each.
The hosts celebrated a first league win over Schalke since November 2015 while the visitors stretched their winless league run to eight games, having scored only twice in the process.
Title contenders RB Leipzig’s hopes though suffered a blow as visitors Freiburg held them to a 1-1 draw. Leipzig wasted a slew of great chances after falling behind until captain Yussuf Poulsen rose to head them level in the 77th minute, and they needed the assistance of the video assistant referee (VAR) to grab a point as Freiburg had a stoppage-time goal ruled out for offside.
Hertha Berlin’s Bosnia forward Vedad Ibisevic scored against his former side Hoffenheim as they claimed a 3-0 win with second-half goals, providing a significant boost to their Bundesliga survival hopes.
Bottom side Paderborn rode their luck as they came away with a potentially vital point in a 0-0 draw at fellow strugglers Fortuna Dusseldorf.
Eerie feeling
Despite the possible global audience of a billion as predicted by Bayern Munich boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, and the hope it gave other sports leagues, it was not what fans had been hoping for.
Instead of the 81,000 crowd packing in Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park, it was a mere 300 people, including players, staff, team officials, broadcasters and security personnel, as in every stadium as part of a strict health protocol.
Fans have also been banned from inside and around the venues to minimise the risk of infection.
Every shout, scream and thud of the ball bounced off the concrete tribunes and was picked up by the pitchside microphones to create a haunting atmosphere.
In Dortmund, Europe’s biggest standing tribune, the Yellow Wall stood impressively empty .
Take for example, Nicole Bartelt. She has been a loyal fan at all but two of Dortmund’s home matches since 2008.
On Saturday, however, she was forced to keep away from the stands. Nevertheless, Bartelt, 44, was not complaining that the derby with Schalke was played behind closed doors. “It’s better to have ‘ghost games’ to slow the epidemic than to have a health catastrophe,” she said.
“Even if we detest Schalke, a season without such a Derby doesn’t have the same flavour,” added Bartelt, wearing a black Dortmund jersey.
In a lovely gesture, Dortmund players decided to keep up their usual post-match tradition and clap towards the empty Yellow Wall.
Saturday’s matches sounded more like Sunday kickabouts or high-intensity training sessions than the return to action of highly-paid professionals in the world’s best attended football league.
Police were present at the grounds prior to the start in order to deter fans from gathering outside to celebrate.
Teams had to change their routines completely with Leipzig having brought in a set of airport stairs to keep substitutes at a distance in the tribunes, some three metres higher up than the bench.
