Well, it’s official. The Paris police department has decided that Paris Saint-Germain will host Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday behind closed doors due to concerns over Covid-19 (coronavirus).
#Coronavirus | En application des mesures annoncées en conseil de défense hier soir, le préfet de Police a décidé que le match #PSGBVB se déroulera à huis clos. pic.twitter.com/arwKhKE81f
— Préfecture de Police (@prefpolice) March 9, 2020
The news is hardly surprising. On Sunday, the French Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, announced that gatherings of more than 1,000 people would be banned unless those gatherings are “useful to the nation.” Clearly, a UEFA Champions League match didn’t fall under that umbrella.
Despite disinfecting the Parc des Princes over the last few days, government and health experts ultimately decided that the public wasn’t safe to attend the match. PSG will now host Dortmund in silence and attempt to come back from a 2-1 deficit to advance to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, a reality which I believe is competitively unfair.
🚨 OFFICIEL ! PSG-Dortmund se jouera à huis clos.
— RMC Sport (@RMCsport) March 9, 2020
There is a theory that this development could benefit PSG. Their mental weakness in the tournament is well-documented and playing without the added pressure from the fans could result in them playing up to their potential.
We don’t know how serious his Covid19 is going to get and predicting the future of an infectious disease is impossible. However in the immediate week or so, having these PSG players play this game without distractions and pressure might have a positive effect @PSGTalk
— Marc Damon (@MarcDamon1) March 2, 2020
The news is disappointing for those fans who purchased tickets and planned to attend the match. Hopefully, this motivates the PSG players to advance past Dortmund so that the fans can have another opportunity to attend a Champions League match at the Parc.
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I see Dortmund announced they will refund fans.
Meanwhile PSG announces, “ PSG season ticket holders and supporters who bought their tickets on billetterie.psg.fr and ticketplace.psg.fr will be informed very soon of the terms and conditions proposed by Paris Saint-Germain.“
I would hope PSG will do the right thing and refund fans for any matches played behind closed doors. Football is nothing without fans and PSG is one of the richest clubs in the world.