The Bundesliga was back in action after a 61 day hiatus. Every game was broadcast acrosss BT Sport’s main channels as well as their red button channels.
I sat down and watched Borussia Dortmund play against Schalke but, once the score went to 3-0 and the game was all but over, I switched over to see the remainder of Leipzig v Freiburg.
What was apparent was the lack of fans in the stadium. When you watched the pre match build up it was a very unusual experience as normally you would see the fans all making noise and the atmosphere build during the pre match.
Under the new Bundesliga rules, we also saw the players come out of the team bus wearing masks which once again felt very strange. Fast forwarding to the game itself and this was actually not as strange as I was expecting.
Whilst the lack of fans was clear to see, the game itself was no different and after a while I got very used to the match experience without fans and eventually, I totally forgot about it.
One thing that I did like was the atmosphere when Dortmund scored. When Erling Håland gave Dortmund the lead, I was expecting to just hear the faint sound of clapping.
Instead, there was music being played and from what I could make out, what sounded like crowd cheering.
I think this is a good method going forward for all teams. In a modern 21st century, I cannot imagine it is hard to record crowd sounds and play them out loud in an empty stadium.
When I switched over to the Leipzig v Freiburg game, the sound in the stadium when Yussuf Poulsen equalised wasn’t quite the same.
Whilst there was the sound of I Feel Good by James Brown being played, the sound around the stadium didn’t feel the same as what you got in the Dortmund game.
In conclusion, I’m not so sure that the lack of fans across the Bundesliga made an awful lot of difference to the games. Whilst playing without fans was weird, it didn’t take away the enjoyment of the game.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching live football again and the games totally flew by. To be honest, the Bundesliga return has only made me even more excited and keen for the Premier League to return.
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