Relief. Grateful. Escapism. These are just some of the words that sprung to mind for myself and I am sure many others as the Bundesliga returned on the weekend. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's quite rapid response to the Coronavirus pandemic meant that the Bundesliga was able to be the first major football league to return to action.
There had been doubts over a return for any major league as the French league and the Dutch league had both voided their seasons. However Merkel announced on the 7th of May that football was able to return on the 15th. 7,000 people had died in Germany during the pandemic, but this number of people was lower than in the UK, France, Italy and Spain. Merkel's decision meant less deaths, unlike UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson dwelling on giving us thorough instructions. Johnson's indecision has left the UK at least a month behind in comparison to other countries in Europe.
In France; Prime Minister Eduoard Philippe suspended sport until September, and Ligue 1 was duly voided in April after having been suspended in March like the other top leagues. A few days later however, the French Professional Football League made the decision to award the title to PSG. Despite it being evident that they would be champions, controversy was sparked as a points-per-game system was used to finalise the league table. This meant that Marseille and Rennes went into the Champions League with PSG, whilst Toulouse and Amiens were relegated. Legal action is due to be taken by Lyon as they missed out on Europe, and Amiens in regards to the fact they were only four points from safety. Before the decision was made in regards to France's Ligue 1, Holland's Eredivisie voided their season towards the end of April, but unlike Ligue 1 they did not crown champions later on. The Dutch Football Association (KNVB) decided that there would be no champions, promotion or relegation. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had also banned sporting activity until September. So therefore the table stood how it was, Ajax and AZ Alkmaar locked on 56 points as both go into the Champions League. Third placed Feyenoord go into the Europa League, and will be joined by PSV and Willem II. The KNVB had asked the teams in the top two divisions to vote in regards to what they would like the outcome to be in terms of promotion and relegation. Nine votes were unfortunately left blank, so they took the decision into their own fans. Thoughts are with Cambuur who had all but sealed promotion from the second tier (Eerste Divisie), and will of course be aggrieved as you know they would have voted in favour of there being promotion.
In Germany, it was widely felt that it was essential for the Bundesliga to recommence as accumulating TV money was essential with German clubs not having the luxury of outwardly rich owners. BT Sport covered all of the Bundesliga games in the UK, bringing some much needed live football to our screens. It was a bit surreal at times with no one in attendance, but beggars can't be choosers. I had my headphones in and listened to some hip hop through a small duration of each game, as the constant echoing is something that I could not take for 90 minutes just yet. But it will of course become easier to digest as more games are played. Chief Executive of the DFL, Christian Siefert stated, "Games without spectators are not an ideal solution for anyone. In the crisis threatening the very existence of some clubs, however, it is the only way to keep the leagues in their current form", (Source: bbc.co.uk/sport). I hope all the Premier League executives heard the words of Siefert there, especially the last few of them.
The Bundesliga resumption began on Saturday, and Borussia Dortmund dispatched of Schalke 4-0 in BT Sport's first major live game in the return. Writer Ronan Murphy tweeted that the game peaked at 652,000 viewers, and that BT Sport's average for Premier League games is 400,000. If this does not speak volumes then I do not know what will. Dortmund looked hungry from the kick off and wonderkid Erling Haaland opened the scoring with a tidy finish after 29 minutes, but he somehow topped it with his celebration. He acknowledged the fans as if they were present in the stadium, and all his teammates stood two metres away from each other as they celebrated. A quite humorous moment that made for a spectacular picture. I must add also Thorgan Hazard was very good, performances like this will see him out of his older brothers' shadow sooner rather than later. Then again the amount of food Eden Hazard has consumed in the last ten months or so, that may not be as easy as I first thought. There were also two goals for Raphael Guerreiro, who produced two clinical finishes. With no crowd, the echo was so piercing that you could hear Jean-Clair Todibo use derogatory language towards Haaland. So if the Premier League resumes make sure you are vigilant as you may need to cover the ears of any kids that are present. Whilst I had the Dortmund game on the sitting room television, I had Leipzig and Freiburg on my laptop. Leipzig were the better side from the parts I saw, but only gained a point. Freiburg had a goal ruled out for offside after a check by VAR in injury time and it ended 1-1. The late kick off was between Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Monchengladbach. I desperately needed to use the bathroom, so went literally a minute before the game started, thinking that I would not miss much. Only for me to come back and see that Gladbach were already 2-0 up in seven minutes. I shrieked, just my luck. Gladbach went on to to get an impressive 3-1 away win.
My football-loving Mum accompanied me to watch Sunday's action, as first of all Mainz came from 2-0 down to get a 2-2 draw at Koln. Then as we both expected a really high scoring exciting game between Union Berlin and Bayern Munich, it finished 2-0 to Bayern. The game in my opinion was not as good as expected. The first goal was a penalty by Robert Lewandowski, which means he now has a ridiculous 26 goals in 24 league games this season. Before Benjamin Pavard scored a late header. Just one game remained on Monday, and Leverkusen won 3-1 at Werder Bremen. If Kai Havertz was auditioning for Jurgen Klopp, then he did a great job as he scored two headed goals. A tall lad, so he is expected to be good in the air, but he is very graceful on the ball and I cannot see him being there for too much longer. Worth noting that he is the youngest man to ever score 30 goals in the Bundesliga. Play will resume on Friday in the Berlin Derby as Hertha host Union, hopefully Dedryck Boyata will not try to kiss his teammate Marko Grujic this week. Just Google the incident as I do not wish to talk about it any further...
Players in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 are being tested every three or four days, and in addition they also have their temperature checked. We all know Germany are a country who embody efficiency, especially when it comes to manufacturing cars, but their organisation here off the pitch is what has allowed them to be the first major league back in business. Merkel's decision in allowing the league to go ahead and finish the campaign came after 1,724 coronavirus tests of the players came back with 10 positive results. Therefore as training had already began in April, she gave the return the green light. Today it has been reported that 748 tests have been carried out by the Premier League, and 6 tests came back positive as players have returned for light training. It remains to be seen if that will be a catalyst for when a provisional start date could be put forward or whether or not it will hinder it. Troy Deeney for example has refused to train as he still does not believe that it is safe yet and he is well within his rights to say that as he is a father. Regardless of what you read on social media, Deeney has a right to say as he feels.
Fans in Germany have to be commended to, as they did not flood the streets around stadiums, this is of course one of the smaller concerns that the Premier League have in regards to returning to action. Merkel had already banned any form of event with a large attendance until October, and this no nonsense approach has instilled the necessary fear into the public. Whereas over here in the UK, we have people meeting in big groups in parks, not social distancing, like people have not been dying in their masses.
On an average day Johnson sounds like Mr. Bean when delivering a message, so when he is not entirely clear in his words you get combustion. With the league back in training this week, one must think that if he had reacted more quickly then we would have had less deaths and already know if football was returning or not this season. If players have all followed procedures then the likelihood of anyone carrying the virus are at a minimum. The concern is though a minority of players have not, Chelsea's Callum Hudson-Odoi is the latest to be caught out. Before him the likes of Jack Grealish and most notably Manchester City's Kyle Walker had been reprimanded. The main issues concerning things are whether the games will be allowed to be played at their normal locations or at neutral venues. An apparent source has stated that there is a possibility of the idea of using neutral grounds being approved. On Monday, journalist Charlie Malam said, "If at least 14 of the clubs vote in favour of the proposals, players will be able to return to training on Tuesday, with five weeks of training before matches return, potentially as early as June 19", (source: 'express.co.uk/sport'). As well as this however TV coverage needs to be sorted. With all that has gone on, I myself feel that if it can be negotiated than a majority of the games should go to Sky Sports and BT Sport as they would have done anyway, but terrestrial TV should get at least one game per week, maybe even two. This can help ease the anxiety of football lovers who may not have a Sky subscription for instance.
I must say as a man who likes to have a small gamble on football (responsibly of course...), it was nice to be putting a pound down on a league where I know an abundance of the talent. The last two months have driven me to sporadically putting money down on some teams that I can not even pronounce properly in the Nicaraguan and Belarusian Leagues. As well as that after not gambling for two weeks my longest period without betting in over five years, I even tapped into the virtual market. One day it worked for me, the next time it did not, but that is just how it goes with betting isn't it.
As a fan of the team who are 25 points clear at the top of the Premier League, I of course remain optimistic that all will be sorted out and that the Premier League season will conclude, but it of course needs to be safe to do so. What Germany have done is give an example as to how things can be done to conclude the season. I am someone who watches the Bundesliga anyway, but the timing was essential for me and I am sure for many others. For what has been a time of negativity, we had something to occupy us and lead us away, and for that we are thankful. In roughly a months time or so we could have Serie A and La Liga back, hopefully the Premier League will be back too.
@DubulDee
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