Football is back – sort of. Last weekend marked the return of the top division of German football, the Bundesliga, in an experiment that has fans across Europe and the world salivating at the prospect of their own leagues following suit. It wasn’t a normal weekend by any means, as the league with the highest average attendance in the world was conducted entirely behind closed doors, but the results were comfortingly similar: Bayern Munich maintained their dominance at the top, with Borussia Dortmund breathing down their neck (from a safe distance, of course) after wunderkind Erling Haaland, Raphaël Guerreiro and Thorgan Hazard put four past Schalke between them.
As Premier League clubs themselves took the first tentative steps towards a return to football, training two metres apart, GQ spoke to BT Sport pundit and four-time Bundesliga winner Owen Hargreaves, who spend seven seasons at the German behemoths before moving to Manchester United.
What did you make of this weekend?
Owen Hargreaves: It's hard to judge. I thought that in the first game [the Revierderby between Dortmund and FC Schalke 04] the first 20 minutes were a bit testimonialish. But I think that was just because the boys hadn't played for a couple of months and they were getting a feel for each other. There's no fans; the atmosphere is weird. But then we saw a moment of brilliance from some of the players – I think it was Brandt, Hazard and Haaland – when all of a sudden something happened and you forgot that there's no one there. Individual brilliance is what decided pretty much every game. And some teams have more [brilliance] than others, Bayern and Dortmund. Schalke didn’t have much of that against Dortmund. So it was nice to see that, even though it didn't look the same as we’re used to.
There’s been a suggestion that the lack of fans means comebacks and upsets are less likely; that if a team goes behind, there are no fans to lift them and push them. Do you think there’s some truth to that?
I think you saw that in the Union Berlin game [against Bayern]. That's one of the biggest games in their history – the whole story is just amazing. The fans helped build the stadium, donated money. That’s one of the biggest games in their history [having secured promotion from the second tier of German football for the first time ever in 2019]. To have Bayern Munich come to town, from where they’ve been, and their fans aren’t there? That would have been a huge blow to them.
I think it does favour the bigger teams in a way, because they have better players, a little bit more quality, so they can go anywhere and they're still competitive, whereas if you look at some of the smaller teams, they might not have the quality to go to Bayern and beat them. So obviously having that home support is massive. Cologne is a good example – we saw that when they came to the Emirates and they took over London for the day [in 2017’s Europa League]. But ultimately, everybody's in the same boat.
You’ve always been a big advocate for the Bundesliga. More than other leagues, Premier League fans seem less likely to watch foreign football than vice versa. Would you agree?
There’s only so much football you can watch. The Bundesliga has always been a really strong league. But why would you watch the Bundesliga if you have the Premier League on your doorstep? I think now the cool thing is a lot of fans are watching and they'll see a guy like Jadon Sancho or Haaland or Kai Havertz or Dayot Upamecano at Red Bull Leipzig and they’ll think, “Well, that guy could fit into my team.” And I really believe that a lot of these guys are that good. They could get into our Liverpools and our Cities and our Uniteds. Like Mesut Ozil, like Ter Stegen at Barcelona, like Toni Kroos at Real Madrid.
These guys are the next generation and I think it's really cool for fans to maybe not follow a Bundesliga team forever, but to follow Kai Havertz’s journey, for example. He just scored two the weekend against Bremen; everybody wants him, so I think we’ll look at those guys and we’ll say, “Right, that’s where they started,” and we’ll follow them for the next ten years.
Did you ever play a game behind closed doors as a player? What’s it like?
I'm not sure I've ever done it; I think it is unique and very different. It's almost like playing in front of your mum and dad again. You can hear all the voices. You can hear your teammates and the coaches, so I think for the fans in a way it's quite cool, because you get to hear how players communicate, what they say to each other. Eerily quiet as it was, it's a pretty cool sound, in football, to hear the ball hit the back of the net. It's so silent. Imagine you went to watch Coldplay without anybody in the crowd? Or Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Drake – that’s what it felt like.
You think about Anfield or Old Trafford on a special night. The crowd is so knowledgeable; they grab the game, they stay with it. And we don't get that right now. But it’s been pretty good, considering.
It wasn't what we're used to. But it's the first step and I think the Bundesliga deserves a lot of credit and praise for being the first one to get on the pitch again.
There’s talk of the Premier League restarting behind closed doors in June. What's your understanding of that? Have you been in touch with any players or coaches?
I think everybody would have looked at what happened in the Bundesliga and been curious to see what happened; Germany is ahead of us in terms of dealing with the situation. The virus was there maybe a bit sooner. So I think we'll follow that blueprint, on how they trained and then gradually get into team training.
There are so many uncontrollable variables, so many things that we're not sure about and I think every day we're just trying to take one step and make sure it’s OK. And then take another one. We're going to be really cautious. There's been a few players who have said they're not really that comfortable; you can’t play if the boys aren’t comfortable.
If it gets to June, is it worth playing just two or three more Premier League games? Should we just prepare for next season?
No. I think you have to finish this. I don't think it's fair to anyone to not finish it. You’ve got to worry about next year at a later date; you’ve just got to finish what you've already started. And it’s unfair to only play two or three games rather than what's left, because depending on who you would have played otherwise, there's so many variables in that.
Tell me about BT Sport and how that has been, working from lockdown. I spoke to Jake Humphrey the other day and he was talking about some interesting technical challenges and hiccups. How's it been for you?
I never thought I'd be a teacher in my life. I've been homeschooling. I never thought I'd be a sound and tech guy, trying to set up all the cables to work remotely.
I'm just trying to make sure the kids don’t come smashing through the room. Because they want to just interact – my son was just banging on the door then! They probably just want a snack because they need about 20 snacks a day… Yes, it's different. It's not what we’re used to, but it also just shows you that it's doable. I've noticed that when we've done interviews with people from home, they tend to open up a bit more, give more interesting answers. When it's live telly, some people sometimes get a bit more rigid. So I think you probably see even when [restrictions are] loosened, I think you might see more [interviews from home].
Final question: for English fans who are just getting into the Bundesliga, who should they support? And don’t say Bayern…
There are so many cool stories with every team, like in the Premier League. Union Berlin – depending on how you think politically, their story is amazing. Berlin’s the people’s team. Bayern, if you like the favourites, but some people don't. You could watch Dortmund – if you want to watch a game of football like at Anfield, go and watch a game at Dortmund, in their stadium and with their fans. It’s amazing.
But I think it’s more about individual players. I think when you’re a young kid and you get into sports, you get into them because one guy gets your attention. I think that will be the same here. I think fans will follow one guy – whether it’s Kai Havertz or Jadon Sancho or Erling Haaland or any of the players at Bayern Munich – fans will come away from this, they’ll look at one guy and they’ll probably follow him for the rest of his career.
Watch the Bundesliga on BT Sport. bt.com
Trent Alexander-Arnold on Liverpool's unreal season
What on earth will we do while football is cancelled?
A football choreographer rates cinema's best and worst moments of the beautiful game
