The Bundesliga has its return scheduled for this Saturday, with all its matches being played this weekend. However, due to the pandemic and for security reasons, fans will not be allowed to go to the Stadium.
So, with this sudden change, Borussia Dortmund thinking about the mental health of their players hired sports psychologists to face this new reality.
Games behind closed doors are not common, and when it happens, it is usually because the home club was punished in some match. Because of that, the coach of the German club, Lucien Favre, believes that the factor may influence the performance of athletes on the playing field.
According to him, the players were used to having about 80 thousand fans on the stands, chanting the whole match. For Favre, it will be weird to shoot or make a great defense and don’t hear anything.
Because of that, he thinks it is important to be prepared mentally. Especially in this first match.
The Yellow and Black club will be one of the first to play in this comeback, which will be this Saturday, and they have a historic opponent ahead of them: Schalke 04. The blue club is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, rivals of Dortmund. It will be a very difficult game and a derby that could mean a lot.
A victory could push the players to keep fighting for the title. A loss, on the other hand, could create a difficult situation where the players will feel even more the lack of fans inside the stadium.
Before the stoppage, Borussia Dortmund was in 2nd place in the Bundesliga with 51 points. With that, they are four points behind the leader, Bayern Munich, who will play on Sunday against Union Berlin. Apart from Bayern, they need to keep an eye on RB Leipzig, Borussia Monchengladbach and also Bayer Leverkusen, who are also fighting for the top of the table.