50,000 fans in Cologne, Bundesliga right in the middle of the corona debate

INA – SOURCES
 
In Cologne, 50-000 fans celebrate in the stadium as it received criticism from politics.
 
In the exuberance of emotions, Mark Uth could be forgiven for not having thought of the threatening corona situation. When the south stand “sings, dances, laughs, drinks”, said the Cologne striker after the derby win against Mönchengladbach, yes, there is no “nicer feeling”.
 
The pictures of 50,000 people celebrating close together and, contrary to the late instruction of the health department, often without masks, caused experts and critics to do exactly the opposite. In the Football Bundesliga, once again the paralyzing argument about how to deal with the pandemic is intensifying.
 
“Full football stadiums. I wonder what those who work intensively think of this country when they see it overtired and at the end of their strength,” tweeted the Greens co-leader. Katrin Göring-Eckardt, around the time when the derby rush in Cologne shifted from the stadium to the trams and bars. The 2G rule applied in the arena, which excludes unvaccinated fans.
 
In Baden-Württemberg, politicians reacted and soon announced ghost games again in the state. The Prime Minister’s Winfried Kretschmann, state government led to advise on the tightening of the corona on Monday and Tuesday, said government spokesman Arne Braun of the German press agency, “But it is clear that there are ghost games in professional football,” Braun said.
 
The situation in Saxony is RB Leipzig currently the only Bundesliga team that has to play in front of empty ranks.
“It is definitely a disadvantage and it affects us not only economically, but also possibly athletically. You have to play big games in the empty stadium, where a lot is at stake,” said Leipzig’s managing director Oliver Mintzlaff on the Sunday before the ghost game against Bayer Leverkusen at DAZN.
 
But politicians care little. “I find it highly problematic what we see in football,” said SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach of “Bild am Sonntag”. “People don’t get infected in the stadium, but the journey and the celebrations after the game are the sources of infection. Therefore, games in a full stadium are currently not acceptable.”
 
The important notice from the city and club in Cologne, which was only sent shortly before kick-off, regarding the requirement to wear a mask on the standing and seated places, apparently no longer reached thousands of fans. The city announced that the health and regulatory authority would evaluate “whether the short-term instruction” had been sufficiently enforced by the association. Fines seem possible.