Bundesliga’s quiet return hints at a silent threat to home advantage | Sean Ingle

Without crowd noise to influence them, statistics indicate referees are less inclined to make decisions favouring the hosts

So this is what football looks like for the foreseeable future. No handshakes, spitting, or fans. Balls doused in disinfectant before kick-off. Masked substitutes physically distancing in stands. Mandatory temperature checks for the lucky few allowed into stadiums. The game sealed off and sanitised, as if in the midst of a science experiment. All that is missing is hazmat suits.

But watching the Bundesliga’s return there was a vague sense of something else: that the action itself was also not the same without supporters cajoling, haranguing and singing hosannas. On social media some reckoned the games were more like pre-season friendlies, slower and less intense. Others – such as the Borussia Dortmund coach, Lucien Favre – hinted that the lack of atmosphere had disturbed a familiar equilibrium. “There’s no noise, you create a chance, you play a top pass, a goal and … nothing. It’s very, very weird,” he said after the 4-0 victory against Schalke. “We miss our fans very much. It was just a very different match.”

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