New reality but Dortmund's Haaland familiar match winner
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Borussia Dortmund's players amusing themselves with a celebration inspired by social distancing guidelines after Erling Haaland (No. 17) scored the opener against Schalke yesterday in a Signal Iduna Park devoid of its usual yellow wall of fans. The prolific Norwegian also set up another goal as the home side won 4-0.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
DORTMUND • When Erling Haaland scored yesterday, he celebrated by dancing in front of his Borussia Dortmund teammates. But they made sure that they stayed a metre apart from one another.
That was the harsh reality as the German Bundesliga kicked off much-awaited football action amid the coronavirus pandemic, as Dortmund defeated Schalke 4-0 in one of six matches played behind closed doors yesterday.
The Revierderby - a fixture that would normally be played out in front of more than 80,000 raucous fans at Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park - had no supporters to prevent the possible spread of the Covid-19 disease.
Strict health and safety protocols were in place and stadiums had to be empty, a situation dubbed as "ghost games" in Germany.
But that did not stop Haaland from doing what he does best after he scored his 10th goal in nine Bundesliga appearances.
He later said: "Normally we have 80,000 people here but we knew we had support from our fans at home. So we were not afraid of anything. We knew we could win and had full control of the game today. It's a good start."
Of his goal, he added: "I'm not in (the) same condition, I've not played in seven weeks but I have been working hard so I'm not surprised with my levels."
The Bundesliga was the first major league in Europe to return during the pandemic.
Dortmund's victory meant that they have won five league games in a row and are now just a point behind leaders Bayern Munich (55), who travel to Union Berlin today.
The hosts also celebrated a first league win over Schalke since November 2015.
Haaland opened the scoring in the 29th minute when he diverted a low Thorgan Hazard cross.
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GERMAN BUNDESLIGA
Borussia Dortmund 4
Schalke 0
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10
German Bundesliga goals Erling Haaland has scored in just nine appearances since joining from Red Bull Salzburg.
His teammates respected social distancing - the Bundesliga allows goal celebration with only "brief elbow or foot contact" - and avoided getting too close as they applauded the dancing scorer.
Raphael Guerreiro added a brace, while Hazard also netted.
Former Bayern Munich midfielder Owen Hargreaves commented that "football without fans is tough to watch". He said on BT Sport: "I am missing the fans already. It was so strange, it is going to take some getting used to."
Of the other four matches played yesterday afternoon, Wolfsburg beat Augsburg 2-1 and Hertha Berlin also clinched victory with a 3-0 win over Hoffenheim.
RB Leipzig's title chase took a hit when they drew 1-1 with Freiburg, while relegation candidates Fortuna Dusseldorf and Paderborn played out a 0-0 stalemate.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
