Liverpool midfielder Marko Grujic, who is on loan at Hertha Berlin, has admitted that playing matches behind closed doors feels a lot like friendly games.
The Serbian central midfielder was loaned to the German side by Liverpool in August 2018. Since then he has made 48 appearances for Hertha Berlin and has scored nine goals and provided three assists.
The Bundesliga was the first football league to restart earlier this month with safety measures in place and the matches have been played behind closed doors.
Since the restart, Hertha Berlin have played three matches in a span of almost two weeks and Grujic has played all three games from start to finish.
The 22-year-old midfielder believes that matches behind closed doors so far have felt like friendlies or pre-season fixtures.
Grujic told Liverpool’s official site: “It’s a bit strange when you play without fans.
"That’s another thing, it feels kind of like a friendly game or a pre-season game, but it’s still far better than the situation like it was when we were just sitting at home doing exercises.
“The first one was of course the strangest, but then you get used to it.
"You can hear everything on the pitch, other coaches, other players, so it’s a bit weird.
"There is no energy from the fans after a good trick or a good pass or something, but it’s like that.
"It will be some time before things come back to normal so we have to adapt. We must adapt.“
Hertha Berlin have changed their coach during the enforced break and brought in Bruno Labbadia.
Since the change in staff the club have picked up seven points from a possible nine, earning a draw against RB Leipzig.
