German league pays tribute to Berlin victims

Berlin (AFP) – Bundesliga teams paid tribute to the victims of the Berlin Christmas market terror attack before Tuesday’s four matches with a minute’s silence, while players wore black armbands.

Fans paid their respects at grounds in Dortmund, Moenchengladbach, Hamburg and Frankfurt. 

“With this, we would like to show a sense of solidarity with the victims, but also with the citizens of our capital,” Dr Reinhard Rauball, president of the German Football League (DFL), had said earlier in a statement

“The compassion of professional football applies to the survivors, as well as to the numerous injured victims, whom we wish a speedy recovery.

“We are all shaken by what happened on a peaceful Christmas market on Monday evening.”

There will be another minute’s silence at a further five grounds across the country on Wednesday, including Hertha Berlin’s home match against Darmstadt.

That match will take place at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, seven kilometres (four miles) from Breitscheidplatz where a lorry ploughed into a busy Christmas market on Monday, killing 12 and injuring at least 48 other people.

Bayern Munich host RB Leipzig in a top of the table clash on Wednesday with a sell-out crowd of 75,000 expected at the Allianz Arena.