Were 69 long days. Perhaps the longest remembered in the Bundesliga. But, after the storm, always calm arrives. And if at a football level you start to glimpse a light ray, It is because it emanates from each of the 18 stadiums of the top German competition. The Bundesliga returns after more than two months of stoppage due to the coronavirus and does so today, Saturday, from 3:30 p.m., under the watchful eye of the whole world.
Rummenigge, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the almighty Bayern, has “billions of viewers” around the planet. Beyond the desire for soccer, they are also united by curiosity to know how it will end the German virus challenge. You breathe tension. And fear.
It will come out well? We will see. It is safe? No. It is precisely dictated by health plan 51 pages prepared by the federation that convinced the Merkel government at the time of giving the green light to the return of the first great competition in the world. It cannot be the objective “to guarantee 100% security for all parties involved,” he stresses. It would be impossible. Just like you want non-viable guarantee the survival of many clubs if they didn't play again. For this reason, the return of the Bundesliga will be followed even in NFL offices, where American football franchises fear for the same. “We will observe if the plan works and we could adapt it to our sport, “admitted the vice president Brian McCarthy.
The football menu that the twenty-sixth day holds for the American honcho is gourmet. A derby from the Ruhr area between Dortmund and Schalke to open the stomach, the visit of the Bayern to Union as a main course for tomorrow and, for dessert, a Bremen-Leverkusen Monday. Returns Lewandowski, which has the Golden Boot. Also Haaland, the one of the nine goals in eight games that keeps Borussia in full competition for the salad bowl. Coutinhofor the moment not. Blackboard will play, when he comes out of quarantine, a few weeks before hanging up his boots, damn fate, in a Orphan Weserstadion and with his Werder fighting against the clock for the permanence. Werner, Neuer, Havertz, Sancho will all be there to fight, in their own way, with a white ball against another green and invisible one. Is a unprecedented challenge. Will be 82 games in 42 days. Two tests per week to each player. The number of changes was raised to five per partyBut the risk of injury is still there after just a week of team training.
Just when German citizens will be able to have a good time again beer on the terracesPlayers will have to stay in their concentration houses or hotels until the end of June. Or July, in case the season is prolonged. AND everything goes well. Because there has already been some small setback. Were 69 long days. Those to come, too.