Sports Burst - LaLiga's Group Therapy
LaLiga clubs move into group training phase on Monday in next stage to Spanish soccer restart
By Tim Stannard/beIN SPORTS USA
Bundesliga weekend hailed as success and model to follow for rest of Europe
With nine games played and reportedly more than double the TV viewing figures in Germany, the Bundesliga proved over the weekend that soccer is still perfectly fine without supporters in the stands and that fans at home want to watch it.
Despite some online fretting over saliva-lacious goal celebrations, the Bundesliga's return is, so far, being seen as a success and very much the path to follow.
Indeed, that was the declaration from LaLiga president, Javier Tebas, who said that "what we saw in Germany is what we will see in Spain".
That journey took another big step in Spain on Monday. After two weeks of individual training, restrictions have been lifted to allow group training with up to ten players in practice together, with appropriate social distancing, etc.
"The rondo is back!" was the yelp of delight from Barcelona's twitter page.
Over in Madrid, Marca are jubilant over the return of Coach Zizou taking charge of sessions again with the first fortnight focussing on purely fitness work.
As it stands, there is still no formal date set for a return of actual matches, although Javier Tebas has previously targeted June 12.
The Sports Burst live show will look back at the Bundesliga weekend - which still has one more match to go today - and get the latest from LaLiga. Head to our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page and beIN XTRA channel at 12PM ET / 9AM PT.
The Sports Burst PM show will wrap up the day's news at 7PM ET on beIN SPORTS.
Contrasting reports of Barca-Juve swap deal
The other big chattering point from LaLiga is over a declaration from Sport that a swap deal between Barcelona and Juventus is all but done.
The scenario sees Nelson Semedo heading to Juve this summer with Miralem Pjanic, Mattia De Sciglio and $30 million going in Barcelona's direction.
If it sounds too could to be true, then it is snorts some of Italy's sports media who write that Juve want the Brazilian midfielder, Arthur, not Semedo and value Pjanic far higher than a simple giveaway.
Serie A restart becoming "a joke" says player after new delay in training return
Rather than Sports Burst being all snooty at Italy's organizational skills on Monday, it will let the front page of Corriere dello Sport do the job.
"Chaos" fumes the newspaper, comparing the situation in Italy with the return of the Bundesliga this weekend.
Group training is now technically permitted for teams in Serie A however it is not taking place due to a disagreement over health protocols. Under current guidelines, if a player tests positive for COVID-19, the entire club has to go into a 14-day quarantine.
The Serie A clubs are fighting this as impractical and unfair and came up with their own guidelines which follow those of Germany and LaLiga where just the player in question is isolated.
This proposals were given to the Italian soccer federation, who passed them to the sports minister, who has now passed them to the government's health council for review. Which could take a couple of days.
"In two and a half months in Italy, no clear strategy has been set for football. We are becoming a joke," fumed Lecce defender, Giulio Donati, who spent six years playing in Germany.
EPL clubs hold meeting to plan steps
Italy are not alone in being stuck in the bureaucratic slow lane. The Premier League clubs are in a meeting on Monday to discuss health and training protocols as well. However, should an agreement be made then teams could be in training in groups of five as early as Tuesday.
After that, comes the tricky part of agreeing with the UK government over where and when the games will take place, with an initial stance from the police preferring neutral venues to avoid the situation of home fans turning up outside the stadium during games.
While it does seem that the Premier League will get there in the end, the proposed start date of June 12 does seem less likely with coaches and players alike saying that a lot more time for training will be required. "A full four to five weeks," is the suggestion from Raheem Sterling on an online chat with Megan Rapinoe.
Meanwhile, to the north of the border, the Scottish Premiership has thrown in the towel after an awful lot of wrangling and infighting. A league board meeting on Monday came to the conclusion that finishing off the league was not feasible and a points per match ratio was used to decide the final placings.
Celtic have been declared champions - the team had a 13-point lead over Rangers in the table - while Hearts have been relegated.