Bundlesliga just an aperitif for the EPL

SO wie gehts Freunden? How has it been for you in the last couple of weeks with the Bundesliga as the only show in town? Do you now know your Elfmeter from your Abseits? Do you know your Schlussmann from your Mittelfeldspieler? Do you know your Tor from your elbow?

It’s been a new experience for a lot of us getting acquainted (or reacquainted in our case) with Fußball in the Fatherland, and aside from the initial weirdness of there not being anybody in the grounds (BVB Dortmund clapping their fans in an empty yellow wall was definitely surreal that first weekend), it’s been great to have some actual sport to look forward to, watch and dissect. The quality of the Bundesliga has been fairly self evident too. The clash between FC Bayern München and Dortmund last week was really high quality stuff between two fantastic sides. This is a league worthy of our attention beyond the curiosity and necessity wrought by the present crisis.

Still, unless you’d been following all season long, it was a bit like coming in at the three quarter mark of a movie. Who is this now and why are they doing that? Remind me again why does everybody hate RB Leipzig? Possibly the biggest draw back for our new found love of all things Fußball, is that for a lot of us – that is those of us not paying attention before now – the season was basically wrapped up almost as soon as it began. FC Bayern’s victory last week over Dortmund put the Säbener Straße outfit seven points clear with five rounds left to play.

There’s nothing hugely out of the ordinary about that, winning is what FC Hollywood do, it’s just that when you’ve waited three months for a bit of live sport you’d like it to be a touch more competitive for a touch longer. All the same the Bundesliga has served us well this past couple of weeks and has certainly whetted the appetite for the return of the Premier League later this month. Let’s be honest, though, this is the real deal for most of us. It’s not quite football hipsterism to be interested in European leagues, but the Premier League is our bread and butter, the background noise of our sporting existence. To have it back will go a long way towards restoring a sense of normalcy for a great many of us.

For the Liverpool inclined among us it’s a massive relief too. No more fear of the null and voiders and just six points away from glory.

Make it so.