“Even without spectators we are able to play football with passion”

Sunday, May 24, 2020 Bayern Munich’s Thomas Mueller

La Liga can resume Bayern see week of June 8, says Spanish Prime Minister off Frankfurt AFP attend, according to a protocol Madrid prepared by La Liga. Players will also undergo Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro tests for coronavirus the day Sanchez announced on Satur- before games and will have fightback to day that La Liga can resume their temperatures taken be- from its coronavirus lockdown fore being allowed to enter on the week of June 8. stadiums. “The resumption of major “When you leave the house professional sporting com- the risk is already there,” Bar- stay four petitions and in particular La celona captain Lionel Messi Liga will be allowed from the told Mundo Deportivo earlier week of June 8,” Sanchez told this month. a press conference. “So I think you can’t think La Liga president Javier about it too much because points clear Tebas has said the preferred otherwise you’ll not want to date for games to resume is Fri- go out anywhere.” day, June 12 and Sanchez’s an- La Liga’s staggered train- Bayern Munich’s Canadian teenager Alphonso Davies celebrates scoring his team’s fourth goal against Eintracht Frankfurt at the Allianz Arena in Munich on Saturday. (AFP) nouncement means that plan ing programme meant players has been given the green light began working individually at from the government. training grounds on May 4 and Results “We are very happy with were able to expand into groups the decision. It is the result of up to 10 players this week. drub Wolfsburg Borussia Moenchengladbach 1 (Thuram 52) Bayer Leverkusen 3 of the great work of clubs, The top flight was first (Havertz 7, 58-pen, S. Bender 81) players, coaches,” wrote suspended on March 12, the AFP Wolfsburg 0 Borussia Dortmund 2 (Guerreiro 32, Hakimi 78) Tebas on Twitter. same day Real Madrid went Berlin “But it is very important to into quarantine following the Freiburg 0 Werder Bremen 1 (Bittencourt 19) follow the health protocol and positive test of one of the club’s leaders Bayern Paderborn 1 (Srbeny 9) Hoffenheim 1 (Skov 4) respect the trajectory of the basketball players. Munich resisted a second-half Bayern Munich 5 (Goretzka 17, Mueller 41, Lewandowski 46, pandemic. We cannot lower But Tebas has been ada- fightback by Eintracht Frank- our guard.” mant the league must restart, furt to claim a 5-2 win behind Davies 61, Hinteregger 74-OG) Eintracht Frankfurt 2 (Hinteregger More than two months af- having estimated that a can- closed doors ahead of Tues- 52, 55) ter the COVID-19 pandemic cellation of the season would day’s top-of-the-table clash at Playing Sunday: Schalke v Augsburg (2.30pm Qatar time), Mainz v halted the season in Spain, cost clubs around €1 billion Dortmund. RB Leipzig (4.30pm), Cologne v Fortuna Duesseldorf (7pm) players have begun training ($1.09 billion). Bayern cruised into a 3-0 in small groups as they aim to France’s Ligue 1 has been lead with goals by Leon Gore- Dortmund’s Portuguese defender Raphael Guerreiro (2nd left) Played Friday: Hertha Berlin 4 (Ibisevic 51, Lukebakio 52, Cunha be as ready as possible for the cut short, with Paris Saint- tzka, the league’s top-scorer celebrates with Dortmund’s Norwegian forward Erling Braut Haaland 61, Boyata 77) Union Berlin 0. planned reboot next month. Germain declared champions, Robert Lewandowski and after scoring the opening goal against Vfl Wolfsburg in Wolfsburg on Barcelona sit top of the ta- while the Bundesliga in Ger- Thomas Mueller at the Al- Saturday. (AFP) ble, two points ahead of Real many became the first major lianz Arena before Frankfurt defence, then laid a pass off Bellarabi in the area. Madrid. European league to resume rattled the hosts. to Hakimi, who fired home 12 Defender Sven Bender un- Clubs have 11 games left to behind closed doors last week- Defender Martin Hin- Points Tally (Top 10) minutes from time. wittingly sealed the win when play to finish the season, with end. teregger bagged two quick Wolfsburg had replace- a free-kick struck his shoulder the proposed final round to be Tebas has said the chance goals from successive corners # team P W D l f A Pts ment Felix Klaus sent off for and flew into the net nine min- completed by the end of July. is low of players infecting each when he volleyed home, then 1 Bayern Munich 27 19 4 4 80 28 61 fouling Hakimi. utes from time. The Andalusian derby be- other during games. headed in to make it 3-2 on 2 Borussia Dortmund 27 17 6 4 74 33 57 “We showed right after Second-from-bottom tween Real Betis and Sevilla is “In the match environ- 55 minutes. the start of the match that we Werder Bremen claimed likely to be the first game back. ment, infection is practically Canadian teenager Al- 3 Bayer Leverkusen 27 16 5 6 52 32 53 wanted to win,” added Favre. their first victory in eight A compressed calendar impossible because we have phonso Davies settled Bay- 4 Bor. Moenchengladbach 27 16 4 7 53 34 52 league game with a 1-0 win at would mean teams playing carried out a study that we will ern’s nerves by reclaiming a Cut it out! Freiburg. matches both in midweek and present that shows the smallest ball he lost in the area to fire 5 leipzig 26 14 9 3 63 27 51 Bayer Leverkusen built on Midfielder Leon Bittencourt at weekends while fixtures will risk is in matches if everyone home the hosts’ fourth goal 6 Wolfsburg 27 10 9 8 36 33 39 Monday’s drubbing of Werder hit the winner in the 19th min- be held behind closed doors, respects the medical protocol,” with an hour gone. 7 Freiburg 27 10 7 10 35 37 37 Bremen by moving up to third ute with a long-range shot. with only 197 people allowed to Tebas said earlier this month. Hinteregger then claimed place with a 3-1 win at Borus- In the dying stages, an unwanted hat-trick when 8 schalke 26 9 10 7 33 40 37 sia Moenchengladbach, who Bremen had defender Philipp he turned a shot 9 Hoffenheim 27 10 6 11 36 47 36 dropped to fourth. Bargfrede sent off for a second into his own net to make it 5-2 10 Hertha Berlin 27 9 7 11 39 48 34 With the terraces at Borus- yellow card and Freiburg had on 74 minutes. sia Park decked with 13,000 a goal ruled offside. The win re-establishes cardboard cut-outs of home The result leaves Bremen Bayern’s four-point lead be- Dortmund win away the empty terraces. fans, Leverkusen’s rising star two points from 16th -- which fore travelling to second- Dortmund claimed a 2-0 “Normally only my wide , who scored twice carries a relegation play-off at placed Dortmund. win at Wolfsburg with goals players can understand me.” in the 4-1 rout of Bremen, again the end of the season -- but six This was the second week- by Raphael Guerreiro and Dortmund winger Guer- netted a brace. points from 15th, which guaran- end of the bundesliga’s re- Achraf Hakimi. reiro opened the scoring in the With seven minutes gone, tees safety. start, following a two-month Dortmund coach Lucien 32nd minute when he tapped Havertz, 20, darted onto Karim Bottom side Paderborn are hiatus, as the first top Euro- Favre said the lack of fans’ noise home a cross. Bellarabi’s pass into the area now nine points from safety pean league to resume during in the stadium helped him give The visitors had a let-off and fired home. with seven games left after the pandemic. instructions. early in the second-half when French forward Marcus their 1-1 draw at home to Hof- A minute’s silence was held “I think it’s positive that Wolfsburg winger Renato Stef- Thuram levelled for Gladbach fenheim. before the day’s five matches to the players can now hear me fen clipped the crossbar. just after the break. On Friday, Hertha Ber- remember the victims of COV- better in the stadium,” said England winger Jadon San- Havertz netted a penalty lin drubbed neighbours Un- Barcelona’s Argentine forward Lionel Messi during a training ID-19, which has so far claimed Dortmund’s Swiss coach, cho helped sealed the win when soon after when the video as- ion Berlin 4-0 at the Olympic session at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper in Sant Joan Despi, 8,216 lives in Germany. whose calls echoed around he dribbled at the Wolfsburg sistant referee spotted a foul on Stadium in the derby to go 10th. Spain, last week. (AFP) Seeking the spotlight, athletics takes a leap in the dark

Promoters of traditional meetings are looking “It’s already huge even to be looking for a way to keep the There is also a plan for able to do exhibitions again,” show going, which is a prob- two hurdlers to race each oth- at ways to stage meaningful one-runner races Lavillenie told AFP, adding lem in events where athletes er over 200m. that he was surprised to have compete at the same time. Meanwhile, Monaco is in arenas where no hands are clapping felt “a little bit of adrenaline” The Oslo Diamond hoping to run a normal event. with this ersatz competition. League event, on June 11, “We hope to stay with a AFP on direct competition, pro- The format was dupli- has been renamed “the traditional meeting, we still Paris moters of traditional meetings cated by three of the world’s Impossible Games” and will have three months left,” said are looking at ways to stage top women vaulters jumping operate “in full observation Charpentier. With traditional competi- meaningful one-runner races at their training grounds with of Norway’s coronavirus “You don’t have to be in- tion shut down by the coro- in arenas where no hands are Greek Olympic champion regulations and social dis- novative at all costs but you navirus pandemic, athletics clapping. “In this period when Ekaterini Stefanidi beating tancing rules.” have to do what works for has begun experimenting nothing is happening, there is American Katie Nageotte and The hour-long made-for- you. If 22 players can play with imaginative and unusu- no bad idea, apart from taking Canadian Alysha Newman. TV event will again feature football in the Bundesliga, al ways to ensure that, some- health risks,” Remy Charpen- As the lockdown eases in Duplantis who will be at the then 10 runners should be how, the show goes on. tier, the organiser of the Mo- some parts of Europe, ‘Flight Bislett stadium as will Nor- able to compete together.” The Olympics and Europe- naco meeting, told AFP. Night’ involving four German wegian Sondre Guttormsen The former decathlete an Championships have been The postponed London pole vaulters, is planned at a while Lavillenie will vault in Alain Blondel, who was in postponed and there no tradi- Marathon launched the 2.6 drive-in cinema in Dusseldorf his French garden. charge of the cancelled Ra- tional meetings are scheduled Challenge in which partici- A file photo taken on July 30, 2000 shows Cuban high jump cham- on June 12 while six micro- Two Norwegians will bat meet, sees the crisis as an until the Diamond League pants attempted solo events pion Javier Sotomayor performing in Havana. Sotomayor, now 52, and meetings have been scheduled make solo attempts at re- athletics laboratory “to build in Monaco on August 14, yet based on that number. Some Secretary of the Cuban Athletics Federation, has asked Cuban ath- in the Czech Republic. cords in little-run distances. the athletics of 2030.” there has been a steady stream sat in cornflakes, Mo Farah letes not to let the COVID-19 pandemic put down their dreams. (AFP) Those will start in Kladno Double 400m hurdles “These innovations aren’t of creative initiatives to allow swung from a climbing frame on June 1 with three events world champion Karsten imitation athletics, you competition. but others ran or rolled. the world record holder, took Duplantis, jumping in his back -- women’s javelin, men’s shot Warholm will try to break shouldn’t see it as a classic There have been long- Three of the world’s lead- on Frenchman Renaud Lavil- garden in his native Louisiana put and men’s 300m -- on the the world 300m hurdles competition, it’s closer to a distance pole-vault show- ing pole vaulters managed to lenie, and two-time US world and Lavillenie, in Clermont- announced schedule. mark and Karoline Bjerkeli TV show based on an athletic downs and solo races against compete while staying at home champion Sam Kendricks. Ferrand, both cleared a bar Grovdal attempt a 3,000m performance,” he told AFP. the clock. with the Ultimate Garden Watched, World Athlet- set at 5 metres 36 times in 30 ‘Athletics of 2030’ record with her pace set by a “We’re wondering what Micro meetings are Challenge on May 3 as Swede ics estimated, by more than minutes while Kendricks, in In addition to “private” in- lights embedded in the side idea we can come up with planned and, in a sport built Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis, a million people worldwide, Mississippi, managed 26. itiatives, the big meetings are of the track. that gives a bit of life.”