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Champions League start: This is the Corona situation in the top European leagues

2020-10-20T13:22:19.719Z


The number of corona cases is increasing across Europe, and the Champions League season is now starting. The impact of the pandemic on football in the four largest leagues - an overview.


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Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman: No fans at Camp Nou

Photo: Angel Martinez / Getty Images

Spain (Participants: Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, ​​Atlético Madrid, FC Sevilla)

Game cancellations due to Covid-19 are now working more smoothly in Spain than before.

In contrast to the summer posse around CF Fuenlabrada, this weekend was communicated and acted quickly.

After four positive tests at the second division club AD Alcorcón, the league called off the match against Ponferradina the night before;

the first postponement of the season took place without arguments or polemics.

The situation is more confusing when it comes to viewers.

The Spanish government rejects any opening of the stadiums.

However, it only determines the national professional leagues.

In other competitions - including the European ones - the regional health authorities are responsible.

In lower-class football, women and other sports, occasional games were played in front of fans again.

However, this is not to be expected in the Champions League.

The clubs from Madrid don't even dare to think about the precarious situation in the capital, FC Barcelona immediately got a rebuff from the Catalan government for their delicate lobbying, which has not closed all bars and restaurants for nothing.

In Andalusia, where Sevilla play, it initially looked like the recommendation from headquarters, and it is clear: no fans.

"It is very unlikely that anything will change this year," wrote Sports Secretary Irene Lozano to Uefa boss Aleksander Ceferin in a letter last week.

But now the position has been corrected and they want to allow up to 800 spectators, possibly soon up to 2500.

The country is dominated by gloomy numbers and forecasts - at least the two locomotives of Spanish football brought a bit of color into the game at the weekend.

Real and Barça played in pink camisoles.

And lost in pink: Barça 0: 1 at Getafe, Real at home with the same result against newly promoted Cadiz.

The fact that guest coach Cervera was then able to determine without being contradicted that "we could have scored five goals" illustrated the value of the royal performance in the Alfredo di Stéfano training stadium, which is currently being avoided due to renovation work.

On Wednesday against Shakhtar Donetsk it will celebrate its Champions League premiere.

Empty grandstands are hardly noticeable there because there are hardly any anyway.

The meager sports field aesthetics, however, only make the whole thing sad.

By Florian Haupt, Barcelona

England (Participants: Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea)

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Interview with Liverpool coach Klopp: Project Big Picture

Photo: Catherine Ivill / Getty Images

The English currently have a split relationship with their favorite sport.

On the one hand, there is great contempt for greed, which some actors also show in the pandemic.

Manchester United and Liverpool FC wanted to divide power among the richest clubs with the "Project Big Picture" (the plan failed), and the Premier League has introduced a payment model for single games, in which TV viewers 14.95 Pounds (around 16.50 euros) per game. 

On the other hand, the public feels well entertained because the league delivers something remarkable.

Tottenham's 6-1 against Manchester United and Aston Villas 7-2 against Liverpool before the international break or West Ham's comeback in the 3-3 against Tottenham at the weekend are just a few examples. 

The Champions League is now bursting into this strange mixture.

Once again, Manchester City has the greatest pressure of expectation from the English clubs.

Coach Pep Guardiola must finally get the title in his (as of now) last year of contract, otherwise he should be considered a failure on the island despite two championships.

Spectators are not allowed in England and this is not expected to change by the end of March.

The number of infections is devastating, and the government has recently tried to get the pandemic under control with a regionalized three-stage system. 

The Champions League location Liverpool (level three) is in quasi-lockdown, in London and Manchester (level two) the restrictions are less strict.

You are not allowed to watch football with other households there either at home or in the pub, but only in the fresh October air in the beer garden.

Only the well-tempered ale provides warmth.

By Hendrik Buchheister, Manchester

France (participants: Paris Saint-Germain, Marseille, Rennes)

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PSG stars Neymar (front), Mbappé: Covid cases in Paris

Photo: BENOIT TESSIER / REUTERS

Paris, Friday October 16, 10:30 p.m.

In the brasserie "La Nouvelle Étoile" in the 20th arrondissement, there are even more guests than usual at the bar and at the tables at this time.

Newcomers should write their name and telephone number on a list at the entrance.

The whole neighborhood has broken up: young and older people, parents with children: they all want to meet outside in the evening without looking at the clock. 

Because in the capital and in eight other large cities there is curfew from 9 p.m. for the next four to six weeks.

President Macron announced the new measure to contain the corona pandemic in a TV interview last Thursday.

The curfew is a tough blow for restaurants and bars.

But they also affect cinemas, theaters or sporting events such as soccer games.

There are exceptions, for example for professional footballers.

The Champions League games of Paris Saint-Germain against Manchester United on Tuesday or Olympique Marseille against Manchester City on October 27 will take place at 9 p.m. as planned.

But they will definitely be games without an audience. 

The mood in French football was already down before the night curfew was imposed: Ligue 1 in France was the first European top league in April that had to end the football season prematurely due to the Corona crisis.

That did not prevent corona cases from recurring in the associations when the game was resumed in the summer, for example in Nice and Montpellier.

The rich Paris Saint-Germain club had a sad climax in September, where a total of seven players tested positive for Covid-19.

Including the superstars Neymar and Kylian Mbappé. 

The losses are correspondingly high.

The French soccer league LFP estimates a loss of income of around 192 million euros between July and December 2020, mainly due to the lack of ticket sales in the stadiums.

And now a dispute has broken out with Mediapro, the owner of the TV rights for the championship.

The company had bought the broadcasting rights for Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 until 2024 for the record sum of 800 million euros per year and is now refusing to pay the installment that is just due.

It is a sideline to the crisis. 

In the next few weeks PSG and Marseille will compete in the Champions League.

"What the new restrictions mean for us in Marseille? There are worse things," says Michael Ignatevossian from the Olympique press office and does the math: "Our stadium has 67,000 seats. Because of the pandemic, we were initially limited to 5,000, then to 1,000 . Now it's zero. What's the difference? "

The mood among fans is also at a low point - at least at Olympique Marseille: the curfew is another bitter step for long-suffering football fans.

From the interview with the president, he mainly heard that the pandemic will last at least until the summer, says Christian, director of the Olympique Marseille fan club "South Wings", to SPIEGEL.

"I said to myself. We're in the shit: We won't see our team again until next summer."

The announced curfew at 9 p.m., which also applies in Marseille, actually does not change much for the Marseille fans, where the games have been played without spectators for some time due to the high number of cases in the city.

"Anyway, I haven't been to a stadium since March. And now we can't even watch the games in a bar."

By Petra Truckendanner, Paris

Italy (Participants: Juventus, Inter, Atalanta, Lazio)

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Juve star Ronaldo: At times only bystanders

Photo: DIOGO PINTO / AFP

It's always a question of name.

The 14 professionals of the CFC Genoa who tested positive made for manageable headlines weeks ago.

Then Serie A reported Covid patient number 30 and newspaper pages were filled.

When the virus hits Juves Cristiano Ronaldo, there is of course excitement.

The first excited questions, however, were less about his condition (asymptomatic) than about the schedule.

On October 28, the duel with Messi's Barcelona awaits, according to UEFA regulations, Ronaldo must show a negative test at least seven days in advance.

Until then, the Portuguese is in quarantine, as is teammate Weston McKennie.

The Juventus squad was isolated in the training center until further notice in accordance with the safety regulations of the association and government.

In general, Italy primarily followed the Uefa guidelines.

If there are 13 professionals (including a goalkeeper) who tested negative, the club has to compete, otherwise there is an automatic 0: 3 at the green table plus point deduction.

Gladbach doesn't need to worry, Inter Milan will present itself in San Siro on Wednesday despite the last six Covid cases.

Defense talent Alessandro Bastoni and Radja Nainggolan were only tested negative at the weekend, the rest of the quartet (including Ashley Young and Milan Skriniar) are still in quarantine.

Lazio Rome is more carefree in the duel with Dortmund, because the only Covid case, striker Vedat Muriqi, is considered cured.

Atalanta Bergamo also reported a negative test with key attacker Duvan Zapata.

There will be no atmospheric Champions League atmosphere because, as in the league, a maximum of 1000 guests are allowed in the arenas.

In view of the increasing number of cases - and currently only seven out of 20 clubs without Covid patients - there is no prospect of an early, even partial, opening of the arenas.

On the contrary.

Since the beginning of October, the daily cases of newly infected people have risen from around 2000 to 11,705, so that the government tightened the restrictions again.

Among other things, team sports in the amateur area have been stopped and the mayors of the hotspots are responsible for imposing a curfew from 9 p.m. for parts of the city center at risk of crowding.

Endangered prospects for the Champions League in the bars of Milan, Turin and Bergamo: Lombardy and Piedmont remain the most affected regions in Italy, there will be a ban on going out between 11pm and 5am from Thursday.

In addition, larger shopping centers should remain closed for the time being on the weekends.

Rome, on the other hand, moves with 34 sick people per 100,000 inhabitants in moderate parameters.

In Milan in particular, the health department assessed the situation as "extremely critical" and reported that life on the streets had halved out of fear.

For the first time since the lockdown, special wards for Covid patients had to be set up in the hospitals because of the rapid increase in the curve.

By Oliver Birkner, Florence

And what about the other countries?

In the

Belgian Jupiler Pro League

, the number of fans was reduced after violating corona rules and a smoking ban was introduced.

In the Dutch Eredivisie, spectators were initially allowed to enter the stadium (but not sing), but no longer.

In

Switzerland

, the stadiums were actually allowed to be filled two-thirds again from October, but this was restricted.  

In the

Czech Fortuna League

, league operations are suspended.

Nevertheless, Czech clubs should compete in the Europa League.

In the

Polish Ekstraklasa

there were 30 positive corona tests at Pogon Szczecin, after further cases three games had to be canceled by the beginning of October.

In

Portugal

, the league started without spectators, soon a game by Sporting Lisbon had to be canceled after several positive tests.

In the

Turkish Süper Lig

, spectators have been allowed into the stadium again since the end of last week.

In the Russian Premier League, a 10 percent load factor in the stadiums was allowed at the beginning of the season, now it is 50 percent.

With material from the news agencies

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Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2020-10-20

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