German Bundesliga finally returned on Saturday after 66 days of suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic which has been ravaging the world since December. German Bundesliga like some other major leagues has always wanted to restart the 2019-2020 season since it was halted in March. And it officially happened in empty stadia across Germany.
The players and other match officials got into the venues of the matches wearing face masks. The players also got to the pitch during their warm-ups but came out for the actual match without wearing their face masks. Even the sitting arrangement of the bench was done in such a way that there are enough spaces in between the coaching crew and other footballers on the bench.
The matches went on as usual. The only difference between matches played before the coronavirus pandemic and those played yesterday was the fact that the stands were empty. Only the voices of the players on the field and the coaches dishing out instructions could be heard echoing across the empty stadia.
Borussia Dortmund started the return of the season like a house on fire by bashing Schalke 04, four goals to zero, thereby putting more pressure on the table-toppers Bayern Munich which is currently leading them with just a point.
Erling Haaland opened the goals chart for Dortmund by scoring his 10th goal in his 10th match for the club. Guerreiro followed that up with his 44-minute goal. Thorgan Hazard who replaced the injured Giovanni Reyna, gave a good account of himself by adding a goal to the woes of Schalke. While Guerreiro finished it up in the 63rd minute.
In the case of RB Leipzig, things didn’t go as planned as they failed to keep their fight for the Bundesliga title stronger. They were held to a 1-1 draw by their visitors Freiburg. The visitors were the first to score through a strike from Manuel Gulde.
Leipzig had to wait until the 77th minute before the club’s captain Yussuf Poulsen levelled. Freiburg almost ran away with three points when Robin Koch headed home but the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) ruled out the goal as offside. Leipzig is now 5 points away from the league leader.
Borussia Monchengladbach kept their hope of overtaking Bayern Munich alive as Alassane Plea, Marcus Thuram goals, and Ramy Bensebaini’s second-half penalty helped them secure a 3-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt. They are now three points behind the table-toppers.
Wolfsburg needed just the goals of Daniel Ginczek and Renato Steffen’s opener to run away with a victory at Augsburg. Tin Jedvaj’s leveller was of no use for the host when Ginczek scored the late minute winning goal.
Kevin Akpoguma’s own goal opened the floor for Hertha Berlin when they visited Hoffenheim. The visitors didn’t fail to capitalise on the advantage by scoring two more goals through the boots of Vedad Ibisevic and Matheus Cunha.
While the relegation-threatened Fortuna Dusseldorf and SC Paderborn met but couldn’t do much against each other. They ended their meeting by sharing the points in a goalless draw.
Today, May 17, Cologne will face Mainz at home while the league table-toppers Bayern Munich will pay a visit to Union Berlin in a must-win match for Bayern which is just topping the table with a point.
