By Tim Stannard/beIN SPORTS USA

Angela Merkel becomes front runner for 2020 Ballon d'Or after spearheading soccer's return

For once, the biggest sports story of the day doesn't involve positive virus tests, illicit haircuts, social distancing infringements, disinfectant practices, Eli Manning, Twitter, golf or Lautaro Martinez. 

Instead, it's back to basics and centers on the mechanics of soccer. Which group of Germany-based athletes will be more proficient at kicking a sterilized soccer ball into the back of a net? 

And that's all thanks to the country of Germany that managed to collectively hold itself together and put in prodigiously proficient planning that allowed soccer to return amidst a global viral pandemic and gave other countries a path to follow.

For that reason, Germany as a whole really should be given the 2020 Ballon d'Or, FIFA's Best Award, UEFA's prizes - everything, with Angela Merkel pushing aside Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi on the podium. 

Tuesday sees the return of Der Klassiker, a potential title-decider between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich despite the protests from Bayern coach, Hansi Flick that "nothing will be decided".

Well, it probably will be if his Bayern side pick up a ninth Bundesliga win in a row against Dortmund, a victory that would give the Bavarians a seven-point lead in the table, with just six rounds to go. 

The odds are tilted in Bayern Munich's favor despite both teams being in fine form, with Dortmund having lost five of their previous six Bundesliga matches against Bayern, conceding 24 goals in the process. Home advantage has also been taken away with no fans in the giant Signal-Iduna stadium either. 

Der Klassiker is just one of four Bundesliga games taking place today, including fourth placed Bayer Leverkusen taking on Wolfsburg, while fifth-placed Borussia Monchengladbach travel to relegation-threatened Werder Bremen. 

The Sports Burst live show will preview Der Klassiker at 12PM ET / 9AM PT on our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page and beIN XTRA channel. 

LaLiga awaits final start day decision 

One of the countries following the breadcrumbs of genius left by Germany is Spain which is edging closer to a restart. 

Teams are now training in groups of up to 14. Later in the week, the go-ahead might be given for training to take place in full groups, two weeks ahead of the starting date being proposed by LaLiga president, Javier Tebas. 

Indeed, Barcelona-based Sport is predicting how the whole opening week of fixtures will look, reporting that Sevilla vs. Betis will kick things off on Thursday June 11, with Real Madrid hosting Eibar on Saturday and Barcelona traveling to face Mallorca on Sunday. 

That theoretical list could be confirmed on Thursday at an assembly of LaLiga's clubs. 

Good news for Zlatan following season-ending injury fears

Other news that will be filtering through on Tuesday will concern another sign that soccer is returning to normal - injuries. 

Tests were carried out by nervous medics on the Achilles heel of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, which is literally the Swede's Achilles heel. But initial fears the self-proclaimed genius' career might be over were washed away after Milan confirmed the 38-year-old had merely sustained an injury "to his right soleus muscle".

True to form, the bad boy of world soccer celebrated the good news by getting on his chopper and risking further injury.  

Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid will continue probing Joao Felix to assess a knee ligament strain picked up by the Portuguese forward. 

Villas-Boas to stay on as Marseille coach

Time to end with a bit of news from France and that Marseille have confirmed that coach, Andre Villas-Boas will be at the club next season.

The Portuguese manager was thought to be bailing out after just one curtailed campaign, unhappy at the financial situation of the side and limitations of the transfer budget (which probably isn't going to get any better).

However, pleas from players and fans seems to have changed the mind of AVB.