BERLIN, Germany, May 26 – Bayern Munich moved seven points clear at the top of the Bundesliga table in front of an empty Yellow Wall, Bayer Leverkusen were hammered in their first home game since the league restarted and Wolfsburg’s Maximilian Arnold gave himself three early birthday presents.
AFP Sport looks at some of the most notable moments from the third round of matches since football’s restart in Germany:
No Bricks in the Yellow Wall
Without fans, Dortmund’s Wall was no longer an intimidating sea of yellow © POOL/AFP / Federico Gambarini
The largest free-standing terrace in Europe was barren as Dortmund had to play in an empty stadium and without the power of the 25,000 passionate voices in the famous southern stand end of the ground. They lost 1-0 loss to Bayern.
The Signal Iduna Park was eerily quiet when normally it would be deafeningly loud for the visit of the Bavarians for the ‘Klassiker’.
Any attack from the likes of Erling Braut Haaland or Jadon Sancho lacked the roar from the Wall especially as the hosts searched for a second-half equaliser.
“It’s obvious, everyone knows it, we miss our fans,” Dortmund coach Lucien Favre said.
Back-tracking Buerki
Roman Buerki stands off his line and paid the price © POOL/AFP/File / Federico GAMBARINI
Bayern’s victory came down to Joshua Kimmich’s effort two minutes before the break which caught Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Buerki off-guard.
The defensive midfielder’s delicate chip from outside the box looped into the net despite back-tracking Buerki’s best attempts.
“We knew that Buerki always stands well in front of his goal. It’s the most beautiful goal of my career and a it’s a very important goal,” Kimmich said.
‘There for you’
Bayer Leverkusen had images of their fans covering a stand at the BayArena © POOL/AFP / Marius Becker
Bayer Leverkusen were hammered 4-1 by Wolfsburg in their first home game since the German top-flight returned and missed a chance to move into the top four
Their supporters welcomed the Bundesliga back by printing images of themselves on a large canvas across one of the main stands of their BayArena home with the message: “We’re there for you, you’re there for us”.
Leverkusen’s loss means only three of the 22 games played since the Bundesliga restarted behind closed doors have been won by the hosts.
Arnold’s birthday gifts
Maximilian Arnold scored his fourth league goal of the campaign a day before turning 26 © POOL/AFP / Marius Becker
Wolfsburg midfielder Max Arnold played a part in three of his side’s goals the day before he turned 26.
Arnold set-up defender Marin Pongracic, who scored his first for the club just before the half-time whistle.
Midfielder Arnold was on the scoresheet himself after the hour with a deflected free-kick. He then set up Pongracic once again a quarter of an hour from the end.
Schwolow Dive
Freiburg’s Alexander Schwolow has kept just one league clean sheet since September © POOL/AFP / Arne DEDERT
Freiburg goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow was kept busy as his side drew 3-3 at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Schwolow was beaten by Andre Silva 10 minutes before the break and conceded two goals in the space of three minutes in the second half as the Germany youth international faced 19 shots from last season’s Europa League semi-finalists.
