Commentator George Hamilton's five takeaways from the return of the Bundesliga

George Hamilton has been a football commentator on RTE for over 30 years

The eyes of the footballing world centred on Germany this weekend with the much anticipated return of the Bundesliga.

With over 40 years' experience of commentating across Europe's top leagues, RTE's Chief Football commentator George Hamilton has watched many a story unfold, but has never witnessed anything like the impact Covid-19 has had on the game.

The Belfast native and former BBC presenter, who has spent time living and working in Germany, has been a close follower of the Bundesliga for many years.

He gave us his five takeaways from the league's successful attempt to get back underway.

The big two remain the big two

Nothing has changed, Bayern Munich picked up where they left off.

Robert Lewandowski, the top scorer in the league scored again, albeit from the penalty sport (becoming only the third player, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, to score 40 goals in five consecutive seasons).

Borussia Dortmund remain second best with Erling Haaland helping them to a 4-0 win over Schalke with his 41st goal this season - which is just astonishing for a guy who won't be 20 until July!

Speaking of....

Erling Haaland showed no signs of rust as he continued his prolific season with a goal against Schalke

Haaland still has it

The young Norwegian continues to impress, although his goal celebrations may need a little work.

He looked like he didn't know exactly what to do when he scored on Saturday, running to the corner flag and doing a dad dance!

I actually saw him play Red Bull Salzburg against Liverpool in the Champions League and was really looking forward, but he did not impress that night - perhaps the big occasion got to him.

But then he moved to the Bundesliga and had a hat-trick on his debut and goes on to score a number of goals.

I would expect to see him in the Premier League very soon.

Behind closed doors is a very different prospect

I think it's fair to say that if this was the way forward, football would not be the same.

It would be the same game, but it would not be the product that we have come to know and love, every match is an event and there is so much that goes on around the game that all adds to it.

Not having the fans in the ground changes the nature of the game, it has to.

With all games held behind closed doors, the spectacle was very different from what fans are used to

It's a bit like an orchestra playing a concert, if you're playing music in an empty hall, there's nothing to bounce off and it has a feeling of a rehearsal and in the sporting context, a training game, it's a totally different experience.

Watching the game reminded me of when I used to go and watch Cliftonville, who my dad played for back in the day.

It was back when they were an amateur team and perpetually bottom of the Irish League's One Division and they had no crowd to watch them.

We all know how things have changed and what Cliftonville and all the Irish League clubs have gone on to achieve now and that's the game that we know and love.

There are different physical effects on players

One of the Sporting Directors of a Bundesliga club made a very interesting point that the players reported fatigue at the end of the game more so than they would at the end of a normal game.

They had looked at the stats in terms of the ball in play, net playing time, and it was up significantly than what it would be in a normal game.

They think it was because there was less opportunity for interaction.

For example, the referee blows for a foul, the player gets up and take it and the game goes on. The referee blows for the same foul with 80,000 people there - the fans react and the player jumps up and protests and suddenly half a minute's lost.

I thought that was a very significant thing, even the goal celebrations don't last as long.

Manuel Neuer's Bayern Munich maintained their lead at the top of the league

I've discovered what a 'white jersey' is

This is a personal one.

When I was looking at the top goal scorer's column after this weekend's results, I also noticed one called 'weisse weste' which means 'white jersey' and is awarded to the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets at the end of the season.

I've lived in Germany, speak German and in all my time working in football, I never knew that, so I've learned something in lockdown!

George Hamilton was speaking to BBC Sport NI's Nicola McCarthy