Bundesliga resumption passes the test

DUESSELDORF, Germany－There was a trophy, there were medals and there were commemorative T-shirts. Only the fans were missing as Bayern Munich celebrated its title on Saturday and the Bundesliga breathed a sigh of relief. The restart plan worked.

"This isn't the Bundesliga that we wanted or that we love, but it was the only Bundesliga that was possible," league CEO Christian Seifert said.

When the Bundesliga restarted on May 16, it was more than a month ahead of other major European leagues. The June 27 finish leaves Bayern and RB Leipzig with weeks of free time before the Champions League returns in August.

The Bundesliga's virus testing and medical protocols formed a blueprint for other leagues and sports around the world. Unlike most other European countries, Germany also restarted the women's league, won by Wolfsburg.

Eerie echoes

The games were eerie as players' shouts echoed off empty concrete terraces and the colorful fan displays were gone. Borussia Dortmund set the tone on the first day back when its players lined up to salute the empty "Yellow Wall"－Europe's largest standing-only terrace which usually accommodates 25,000 hardcore home fans.

The results were much like any other recent campaign. Bayern recovered from early-season troubles to win its eighth straight title with two games to spare, then held a muted party in private without players' families. Dortmund fought hard with an exciting young team, but fell short.

The coronavirus brought pain to some players, at least indirectly. Injuries were more common after the long break from training and second-division club Dynamo Dresden had to play eight games in 22 days after positive coronavirus tests delayed its return to action.

"Do you think that anyone in the league spent a single second thinking about what's going on in our heads?" Dresden player Chris Lowe said in a tearful, expletive-filled televised interview railing against the German league last week after his team was relegated.

Now Bayern and Leipzig face weeks without games before the Champions League resumes in August, though Bayern still has a cup final on July 4 against Bayer Leverkusen. There is also a two-leg promotion-relegation playoff to come, between Werder Bremen and Heidenheim.

Healthy conclusion

Almost immediately after suspending the league on March 13, Germany quietly began preparing for the restart.

It helped that Germany was one of the world leaders in ramping up its coronavirus testing. That meant that the league could use as many as 25,000 coronavirus tests to finish the season without putting a serious dent in the country's testing capability.

The deputy head of Germany's main public health body was opposed, saying tests should be saved only for people suspected of having the virus.

At one stage the restart looked in doubt after positive tests for players or staff at top-flight club Cologne and second-division teams Dresden and Erzgebirge Aue. Polls consistently showed most Germans were against the restart, but detailed planning by the league helped convince key politicians.

The league has stopped publishing testing figures, although no top-division team has reported an infection since the league resumed.

The only confirmed case of a player missing a Bundesliga game because of coronavirus was when veteran Bremen striker Claudio Pizarro was quarantined following a positive test for his daughter. He was found not to have the virus.

Injuries abound

The restart was accompanied by a rash of minor injuries, mostly strains of players' soft tissue. That left Dortmund fielding a less-thanideal starting lineup in its title-deciding 1-0 loss to Bayern when Jadon Sancho and Emre Can were only fit enough to come off the bench as substitutes.

Bundesliga players spent less time training at home than their counterparts in England or Spain because of Germany's quick move to socially distanced training in groups.

Some used the break to shake off injuries and return fully fit. Top scorer Robert Lewandowski, his Bayern teammate Kingsley Coman and Leipzig midfielder Kevin Kampl all made an impact after returning to fitness in the spring.

Obedient fans

German police, like those in England and elsewhere, feared fans would gather around stadiums and spread the coronavirus.

When Dortmund hosted local rival Schalke on the first day back on May 16, a few curious locals in club colors wandered by but soon left. A group of about 10 Polish warehouse workers constituted the largest crowd as they posed for photos in front of a club logo and played keepy-uppies.

There was no repeat from the Bundesliga's brief experiment with empty-stadium games before the shutdown, when hundreds of Borussia Moenchengladbach supporters chanted outside their team's stadium during a win over Cologne.

Instead, German fans have mostly followed the rules and watched at home, as shown by record audiences for broadcaster Sky on the first weekend back. Bayern's title win also didn't prompt the kind of street partying seen in England after Liverpool's long-awaited Premier League title triumph.

Associated Press