If anybody thought that football behind closed doors cannot be spectacular, exciting and thrilling, the Bundesliga has just proven them wrong.
After the first entire match day behind closed doors, football fans throughout the world agree that players rose to the occasion and presented a football spectacle that came close to providing as much entertainment as any ‘normal’ match day.
And this weekend, the show continues as match day 27 in the Bundesliga kicks off on Friday with the eagerly anticipated Berlin derby between Hertha and Union.
Victory for Hertha in Hoffenheim and defeat at home for Union against Bayern Munich saw the two teams swop places in the league, with Hertha now occupying 11th with 31 points, while Union are a point and a place behind.
Arguably the pick of the matches takes place in Mönchengladbach on Saturday, where Borussia Mönchengladbach take on Bayer Leverkusen. Both clubs secured convincing away wins in their last games and are challenging for a place in the top four.
For the third-placed home side a victory against Leverkusen will be particularly sweet as it will allow them to put some distance between themselves and a rival for a Champions League place.
Bayern Munich, who have a four-point lead over Borussia Dortmund, are at home to Eintracht Frankfurt, with Robert Lewandowski eager to add to his goal tally.
After scoring once in Bayern’s win at Union, the Polish superstar now has 228 Bundesliga goals to his credit and only German legends Klaus Fischer and Gerd Müller are ahead of him.
Bayern though, will be aware of Dortmund’s performance in the 4-0 win against Schalke on the weekend and will thus realize that they need to continue winning if they want to stay ahead of their rivals.
Dortmund face a tough away match at VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday, with Dortmund coach Lucien Favre praising his side after their victory against Schalke.
“I felt the team played well together, also defensively. The players were very concentrated. It is strange though when nothing happens if the players do something good. That’s very, very strange. We really miss our fans.”
Football fans throughout the world will continue to look towards Germany to provide some respite in difficult times as the Bundesliga is the only one of the major leagues that has returned and offers some form of normality.
African fans are able to watch all matches live and exclusive on the StarTimes football channels as the leading digital-TV operator has secured the rights to broadcast the matches.
By Peter Auf der Heyde
