Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Braut Haaland Photo: VCG

The last few months have been difficult for football fans, with live action largely - and rightly - being called to a halt.

There were the few odd leagues that survived. The top flights in Belarus, Burundi, Nicaragua and Tajikistan were followed this week by South Korea's K League.

Those games have been largely behind closed doors and the German Bundesliga, which is set to return this weekend, is no different in that regard, although it will look a little more full at Borussia Monchengladbach the following weekend.

Their fans have bought more than 12,000 cardboard cutouts as part of the "Stay at home. Be in the stands" campaign to at least give the impression to the players that there will be fans in the stadium - though nothing like its almost-55,000 capacity.

They have been close to capacity at their Borussia-Park Stadium all season as they have played their way to fourth in the table.

The Foals are one of the teams that the world will be watching when the Bundesliga restarts. International interest has been proved by the club opening an English-language site to sell the cardboard cutouts.

Who knows how many they will have sold, including to Borussia Dortmund fans, by the time their game kicks off on May 23. The strange thing is that Bayer Leverkusen will be the away team that day.

Before that though the global interest is sure to be on Borussia Dortmund this weekend and in a game that they are actually playing.

The Revierderby with Schalke 04 is the game of the day on Saturday, when the two local sides meet for the 156th time.

It is fair to say that the pressure is on for the hosts in what will be an unsual atmosphere at the Signal ­Iduna Park. Rather than a fierce 80,000 crowd, including the famed Yellow Wall, there will be no more than 213 people in the ground including the players.

Dortmund's last game before the coronavirus chaos ground European football to a halt was away at Paris St-Germain in the UEFA Champions League. Not only did they lose that to the hosts, who were inspired by Neymar on the night, but they now need to play catchup to Bayern Munich, who are four points clear.

Worse still, Bayer Leverkusen in fifth place are only eight points off the leaders, so there is a lot of pressure on who will qualify for the UEFA Champions League places.

But the worst news for Dortmund, four points behind leaders Bayern, is not only do they have to resume the league against their derby rivals but Baryern only play Sunday, more than 24 hours after the result from the Revierderby is in.

Thye good news for Dortmund, though, is that they have some of the most exciting players in a league that has some of Europe's most highly rated prospects. All eyes will be on the likes of Jadon Sancho and Erling Braut Haaland as the Bundelsiga experiences unprecedented global attention.

That could mean that their values skyrocket ahead of the next transfer window, or it makes them even more unattainable as clubs curb their spending. That is a future dilemma. In the meantime, here are the players we can look out for to light up Germany's global game.

Jadon Sancho - Borussia Dortmund

The teenager is among the most devastating players in world football, not for his age, but full stop. The Londoner, who left Manchester City for Dortmund to increase his first team opportunities, has recorded 14 goals and 15 assists this season and was linked with a return to Manchester. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side were said to be frontrunners for Sancho's signature in a deal that could cost north of 100 million pounds.

Erling Braut Haaland - Borussia Dortmund

The big Norwegian only arrived in Germany in January, choosing Dortmund over Manchester United as his destination from RB Salzburg. The giant started off in the Bundesliga as he had in this season's UEFA Champions League with the Austrians: by scoring goals. He scored five in his first two Dortmund games and then two in their UEFA Champions League first leg against PSG - taking his debut season tally to 10. Already linked with a move to either Manchester United or Real Madrid.

Timo Werner - RB Leipzig

The young German seems to have been around forever already but he is still only 24. Werner has long been linked with Liverpool but the Reds have reportedly asked for more time to conclude a deal in the post-­coronavirus landscape. In the meantime, the RB Leipzig man has every opportunity to show why he deserves that bigger stage, possibly by overtaking Robert Lewandowski on the top scoring charts. Werner has 21 goals to the Pole's 25 but his seven assists are superior to the Bayern forward's three.

Kai Havertz - Bayer Leverkusen

Only 20, the rangey forward has developed quite the reputation since breaking inot the Leverkusen first team aged 16, becoming their youngest-ever player. He became their youngest scorer the following year and the youngest player to both 50 and 100 Bundesliga games - breaking Timo Werner's record in the process. Havertz, who has drawn comparisons to Germany's greatest midfielders including former Leverkusen man Michael Ballack, was named runner-up in last season's German Footballer of the Year awards. Bayern Munich then Chelsea came calling for Ballack, what is the next step for the highly rated Havertz?

Leon Bailey - Bayer Leverkusen

The 22-year-old Jamaican joined Leverkusen from Belgian side Genk, where he had been named the Belgian Young Player of the Year in his debut season and solidified his reputation in his second and final campaign - scoring the Europa League goal of the season. He swapped Belgium for Leverkusen in 2017, amid reported interest from Chelsea and Manchester United, and Bailey has not looked back. This season was the winger's most prolific - he had five goals in 14 games before the break as his side sit in fifth.