FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi celebrates a goal against Arnsenal during a Champions League match in April 2010 in Barcelona, Spain. (AP file photo)

Yet, in the next week, the sport makes its return in three powerhouse countries that were among the hardest hit by the pandemic — Italy, Spain and England.

This will be soccer in a very different form, though, as already demonstrated in countries like Germany, Denmark and Poland, among the first to restart.

With spectators not allowed in stadiums, Zoom walls and cardboard cutouts have replaced fans in the stands. A swab test for COVID-19 is as much part of the pre-match routine for players as stretching their muscles. Artificial crowd noise is now the soundtrack for matches for TV viewers, with soccer now essentially an armchair sport for the next few months.

So when the Spanish league resumes on Thursday after a three-month suspension with a match between Andalusian rivals Sevilla and Real Betis, what is usually one of the most colorful and passionate derbies in soccer will likely lose some of its appeal.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Eibar at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb. 22. (AP file photo)

Italian soccer restarts the following day with a semifinal match in the Coppa Italia between Juventus and AC Milan, two of the most storied clubs in Europe, in an empty stadium.

Then, next Wednesday, the most lucrative and popular league in the world — the English Premier League — is back with two games, including Manchester City against Arsenal. This despite many schools still being closed, incoming passengers at airports being asked to quarantine for two weeks, and many deaths still being reported each day.

It will be sanitized and soulless, but soccer will still be back.

“We’re nearly there … and I can’t wait,” said Inter Milan midfielder Antonio Candreva, whose team plays in the cup on Saturday against Napoli. “The green grass, my teammates, the emotions that only this sport gives us.”