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).
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.
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.
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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