Borussia Dortmund substitutes wear face masks and sit 2m apart as Bundesliga returns

Germany’s top division returned after 61 days away after being forced to shut down in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic

Borussia Dortmund vs Schalke helped kick off the restarted Bundesliga season on Saturday.

Germany’s top division returned after 61 days away after being forced to shut down in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic.

The match took place at the 80,000-seater Signal Iduna Park with just 300 people allowed to be in attendance with other health and safety protocols being observed in order to get the game on.

This included Erling Haaland, who scored the opening goal of the match and the restarted season, undertaking a socially distanced celebration.

But it was the socially distanced substitutes that drew most interest on social media.

All players on both benches sat two metres apart while also wearing masks.

This didn’t escape attention with a number of observers pointing out the peculiarity of such a sight.

“So you sit 2m apart on the subs bench wearing a mask! But when you come on, you take it off and charge into a crowded penalty box to defend/attack a corner! Sound logic,” one user wrote while another added “this is beyond weird man.”

Another added: “Nah man look at subs bench ffs. Coronavirus has changed the world forever.”

A third tweeted: “Social distancing on the subs bench. For a contact sport.”