Premier League will be pleased with what they saw in the Bundesliga – but nothing guaranteed yet for football’s return
WATCHING football again was far from normal — but this is the new normal and we all have to get used to it.
I imagine the Premier League would have been pleased with what they saw over the weekend in Germany.
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But before anything can be deemed a success, we are going to have to wait for a week or so to find out if there are any new infections.
The main concern remains to ensure the safety of everyone.
Most people understand that you can’t 100 per cent guarantee anything right now, as even going to the shop poses a risk.
But if it’s going to be as safe as it can possibly be, then I think the players will have been encouraged by the return of the Bundesliga.
It was great to watch football again after two months, albeit with a strange atmosphere.
I watched the Dortmund v Schalke game on Saturday and it reminded me of reserve games when I was 16 at Southampton — when we played at The Dell in front of virtually no fans.
It felt a bit like a pre-season game and understandably both teams were rusty early on.
Watching subs sat apart with masks on was strange. As was seeing players and captains socially distance at the start. Most of all, it was seeing players stay away from each other when celebrating goals.
But after the first 15 minutes or so the standard was very good, especially from Dortmund.
They got to terms with the game quicker than Schalke and fully deserved the 4-0 win. Their goals were superb, their passing and movement was brilliant.
Erling Haaland showed again just how dangerous he is with the first goal after 29 minutes.
It was a brilliant ball in and his movement and finish were superb.
The way he just let the ball come across him before guiding it into the corner, leaving the keeper with no chance, was superb.
You could see a few players going down with cramp towards the end, which is understandable after how long they have been out.
But because of the emphatic scoreline with Dortmund 4-0 up after 63 minutes, it was easy to cruise the rest of the game.
Due to the lack of atmosphere and the fact there has been no football to watch, I ended up concentrating more on the match.
In terms of a spectacle, watching all the substitutes sat apart with masks on was strange.
As was seeing the players and captains socially distance at the start without shaking hands.
Most of all though, it was seeing players stay away from each other when celebrating goals.
Watching the Dortmund players do their traditional end-of-game celebration in front of the ‘Yellow Wall’, just didn’t have the same impact. Like Haaland, Robert Lewandowski was straight back at it yesterday in Bayern Munich’s 2-0 win at Union Berlin.
He brought up his 26th league goal with a cool penalty — the Pole has now scored 40 in all competitions for five straight years.
It restored Bayern’s four-point lead at the top over Dortmund, with the champions visiting the Westfalenstadion on Tuesday week.
We’ve all got to get our heads around games behind closed doors for the foreseeable future.
But I don’t see the spectacle being ruined the longer it goes on.
We all want football to return in some way and if it has to be like what we saw over the weekend, then we will have to accept it.
But to get football back on these shores, there is a long way to go.
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There still has to be a vote on whether to use neutral grounds or not — and we saw encouraging signs in Germany.
By all accounts, fans stayed away from their team’s grounds and, for me, if games are going to be played across all stadiums then we have to trust the supporters.
There is no doubt the Premier League will have been monitoring very closely. And while it was just the first step, overall it has to be considered a very positive one.