Bayern Munich, crowned king of the Champions League in August, continues Thursday evening its tireless quest for titles against Sevilla in Budapest, for a European Supercup which was to sign the great return of supporters in the stands but remains threatened by the Covid- 19.
As during the "Final 8" of the C1 in Lisbon at the end of the summer, there will be in the Hungarian capital a huge favorite on the lawn, Bayern and its stars, opposed Thursday night in Seville, winner of the League Europa in Germany last month.
But unlike the Portuguese spans in August, the stands of the brand new Puskas stadium in Budapest, one of the twelve speakers scheduled for the Euro in June 2021, will not be bare: for the first time since the end of winter , a European match reopens its doors to a large audience.
A test match turned into a fear match
Some 30% of the 68,000 seats in the enclosure have indeed been put up for sale, or around 20,000 spectators initially expected by UEFA, which wanted to make its back-to-school high mass a "test match" for the long-awaited return. songs and atmosphere after months of closed doors and silence.
But once again, the European body has been overtaken by a novel coronavirus pandemic far from being under control, and the “test match” is now more of a match of fear, despite drastic health measures taken by the organizers ( negative PCR tests required, temperature measurement, masks, distancing, etc.).
Because Hungary is no exception in a Europe still severely affected: the virus circulates actively there, its borders are closed except for business trips or exceptional events, and the country is classified as a health risk zone by several European nations, including ... Germany.
From then on, it was difficult to convince the Bavarian fans to embark on this perilous trip, especially since it required them to perform a virological test before their arrival, and another on their return to Germany unless to respect a quarantine of two weeks ... The head of the regional government of Bavaria, Markus Söder, was also publicly worried earlier this week, indicating that a trip to the Hungarian capital was "not reasonable.
We cannot take any risk with 2,000 or 3,000 people who no doubt, and understandably, will hug each other in great jubilation.
We will then have a gigantic wave of infections, ”he warned.
"Bayern Munich has every interest in this match not becoming the Ischgl of football"
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Consequence: some 800 Bavarian supporters have returned their tickets for Budapest and they will only be 1,300, according to UEFA, to make the trip.
On the side of Sevilla FC, recent winner of the Europa League, 500 fans are expected, out of the 3,000 places initially reserved by UEFA for each delegation.
"Bayern Munich has every interest in this match not becoming the Ischgl of football," Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the Bavarian club's president, told ZDF television with reference to the winter sports resort. Austrian Ischgl, nicknamed the Ibiza of the Alps for its unbridled evenings, and considered in March as one of the first outbreaks of the coronavirus in Europe.
For Munich, we must therefore resolve to play the match, rejoice in advance of the (meager) support promised to the multiple European champions from the stands, and hope, above all, that the event does not become a “Super Spreader”. Cup ”(“ Cup of super-contaminators ”), as mentioned by the German daily Bild on Tuesday.
The other subject that has come to darken the picture a little more will be the state of form of superstar Robert Lewandowski: the Pole, victim of a blow to an ankle, only trained for a dozen minutes on Tuesday.
Other than that, Bayern seem ready, despite the absence of Lisbon hero Kingsley Coman, quarantined after coming into contact with someone positive for Covid-19.
The German champion club crushed Schalke at the opening of the Bundesliga on Friday (8-0), signing there a 22nd victory in a row, a series which has held since February with in the meantime the conquest of the Bundesliga, the Cup of 'Germany and the Champions League, to garnish the trophy cabinet of the "Rekordmeister".
Opposite, Seville also arrives in confidence - 21 matches without defeat in a row -, but without benchmarks: the Andalusians, spared by the Spanish League during the first two days of the championship due to their career in the Europa League, have not yet resumed competition.
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