IN A LIGA OF ITS OWN!
Germany welcomes return of matches but it is a whole new ball game for us all
David Bernreuther is a reporter for renowned German football magazine Kicker and has covered Augsburg for six years.
He was one of only 10 print journalists allowed lowed access to the WWK WK
Arena yesterday for the clash with Wolfsburg, one of six Bundesliga fixtures to take place behind closed doors.
It is the first major league in Europe to return since football was halted in March due to the Covid-19 global pandemic and here our man in Germany shares the surreal experience:
The scene could hardly have been more of a contrast.
Seventy days ago I sat inside the Allianz Arena with 70,000 fans as Augsburg lost 2- 0 to Bayern Munich in my last match for Kicker before the shutdown.
Yesterday had to be the most surreal of my career as both myself and t he Bundesl iga returned in an empty WWK Arena
I’d never been to an off icial match behind closed doors before and was one of just 10 journalists allowed in a press box which usually houses around 50 of us, plus TV and broadcasters.
But even before we could take our well spaced out seat in the stadium we had to fill out a health questionnaire to confirm we hadn’t had contact with anyone who had shown coronavirus symptoms or experienced any ourself.
And just to be sure there was a thermal scanner at the entrance to check everyone’s temperature, with anyone above 38C refused entry.
Finally, and perhaps strangest of all, we had to wear protective face masks at all times.
Police and security were also out in force to ensure fans heeded the repeated warnings to stay away from the ground.
Wolfsburg arrived in two team buses to ensure players and staff kept a safe distance apart on their long trip south.
The eyes of the world might have been on Germany as live football kicked off again but not everyone is in favour and behind one stand a banner was displayed stating: “Der Fußball wird leben – euer Business ist krank“which roughly translates as “Footbal l wi l l l ive, your business is sick”.
With the usual 30,000 fans absent, you could hear every shout from players and coaches – apart from new Augsburg boss Heiko Herrlich, who replaced Martin Schmidt following that March 8 defeat by Bayern.
But his debut was put on hold after he broke Bundesl iga quarantine rules by going out shopping to buy toothpaste and skin cream. Now he must produce two negative Covid-19 tests before he can be with his team again. That meant his assistant Tobias Zellner was left to bark out instructions to the team from the side of the pitch, making an already strange occasion even more surreal.
As for the game itself, the interesting thing for me was the players’ fitness.
We all wondered how fit they would be after two months without a competitive game and only being able to train in small groups until 10 days ago.
Wolfsburg looked to be in better shape than Augsburg and took the lead just before hal f- time through Renato Steffen, who celebrated by jumping shoulder to shoulder with Paulo Otavio, who had set t him up.
An own goal saw Augsburg g get back on level terms after r the break but there was a late e blow for the home side when n Wol fsburg grabbed an n injury-time winner.
After the game we usuallyy have a post-match mixed zone area where players walk through for interviews but that was closed, as was the managers’ press conference room.
Instead, we journalists had to remain seated in the press box before being able to ask our post- match questions through a video link.
Boss Heiko Herrlich had to sit out his debut after he broke quarantine rules to buy toothpaste and some skin cream