SPAIN boss Luis Enrique reckons football behind closed doors is like failing to get a girlfriend.
Germany’s Bundesliga became the first major European league to restart last weekend but in stadiums with no fans.
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Luis Enrique says the Bundesliga playing without fans was a ‘terrible’ quick-step back for football amid the coronavirus pandemicCredit: AFP or licensors
Enrique said: “Playing without fans is sadder than dancing with your sister. I saw some games from Germany at the weekend and it’s terrible.
“You can hear everything – all the insults – and you lose the intimacy of the better moments.
“But we have to remember that this is a business that generates a lot of money.”
The Premier League is preparing to follow the Germans and restart the season in late June but no supporters will be allowed into grounds to watch. Spain is around one week ahead of the UK.
Some Bundesliga teams piped crowd noise into the stadiums in a bid to create some atmosphere and Borussia Monchengladbach even produced cardboard cut-out fans to mimic a full ground.
Fans may be banned from English grounds until the end of the year under social distancing rules to combat coronavirus.
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Former Barcelona chief Enrique said: “While it is a long way from playing with fans, I understand it can serve as a way of helping people deal with the lockdown.
“But football in these circumstances is strange.”
Enrique’s native LaLiga hopes to resume on June 12, having already gone from individual training to ten-strong group sessions.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk