Without the Covid-19 pandemic, Saturday 16 May would have seen the final matches of the German football league’s 57th season: a day of passion and noise, tears of joy from the champions and despair from fans of relegated teams. Instead, the restart of the Bundesliga after a nine-week break was a strangely clinical affair, which is more likely to be remembered for unfamiliar hygiene routines, an eerie atmosphere inside the stadiums and awkward elbow bumps.
Haaland leads the way as Dortmund win by a distance on Bundesliga returnRead more
For the restart to go ahead, the 36 clubs in the first and second division had to abide by a strict code of regulations drawn up by the German football association. No more than a total of 300 people were all…
In return for a taste of his whisky, no less, singer-songwriter Kenny Rogers was once given some awfully vague advice: “The secret to survivin’,” the Gambler told him on a train bound for nowhere, “is knowin’ what to throw away and knowin’ what to keep.” Thanks for that, Gambler, care to elaborate? “You’re got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em.” Yes, Gambler, but how?
The boards of Leicester and Arsenal may have found themselves humming that tune earlier this season when they heard calls to sack their managers. The cries for Brendan Rodgers to be strapped into a train bound for Mutualconsentville never got as loud as the ones aimed at Mikel Arteta but there were mumblings among some fans, nonetheless, th…
Borussia Dortmund began 2017 in typically net-bulging fashion, hammering Dutch champions PSV 4-1 in Cadiz.
Though languishing sixth in the Bundesliga at the mid-season pause, only Bayern Munich have scored more league goals than Dortmund s 35 and their 8-4 win over Legia Warsaw was a Champions League-record goalfest.
Thomas Tuchel picked a strong side in Spain, only Africa Cup of Nations-bound Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was missing, but the striker s replacement Adrian Ramos showed his class, setting up Dortmund s first two goals through Marco Reus and Shinji Kagawa – Reus finding the net a minute after missing a penalty.
Tuchel made 11 changes at the break, but there was no let-up for PSV as Andre Schurrle and Christian Pulisic put a dominant gloss on the score…