Berlin, Feb 8 (EFE) .- The co-governmental Social Democratic Party (SPD) considered today that football lives “alien to reality” by maintaining the match between Leipzig and Liverpool, instead of suspending or postponing it, after not to authorize the entry of British players to Germany due to the pandemic.
“It would be a good sign if a decision was made to postpone it or not celebrate it. The competition is not the priority,” said SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil after the decision to keep that party, but transferred to Budapest.
The two teams and UEFA negotiated this compromise solution due to the situation created by not allowing Liverpool to enter Germany for the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, scheduled for 16 February.
Since the end of January, the entry into Germany of travelers from the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Portugal and Ireland has been banned for fear of the spread of variants of covid-19.
The Hungarian Football Federation offered its support to find a solution and it was decided that the match would be played, on the scheduled date and time, at the Puskas Arena in Budapest. Something similar is shaping up for the game between Borussia Mönglengladbach against Manchester City, which will take place eight days later.
All citizens are being asked to restrict non-essential travel as much as possible, recalled Klingbeil, whose party is a coalition partner of Merkel’s conservative bloc. In the case of the United Kingdom, the measures have been tightened and the entry of travelers from that country has been banned.
Soccer seems to show that it “lives oblivious to the reality” of its compatriots, the SPD considered, if it seeks solutions such as the transfer of the party instead of suspending the trip, as citizens do. EFE
