The Dortmund vs Bayern VAR mistake that gives Premier League's Project Restart a fresh problem

Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham may not be in title contention like Dortmund were but such an incident would no doubt be met with retrospective fury

While the first two weekends of Bundesliga action flagged up plenty of obvious issues that the Premier League must learn from when Project Restart reaches it final phase, yesterday evening's game between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich offered another issue that comes from playing in empty stadiums.

About an hour in, with Bayern leading 1-0, Jerome Boateng clearly used his arm to deflect a goalbound Erling Haaland shot out for a corner.

There were no protestations from the home players and the video assistant referee did not flag the issue up.

But if that happened in front of a packed Yellow Wall, there would have been loud, sustained and justified calls for a penalty. That would have no doubt led to the players remonstrating with the match officials and from there who knows.

The replays certainly indicated that it was a penalty and if Haaland had then beaten Manuel Neuer from 12 yards, the trajectory of the game would have turned.

We could have been waking up this morning looking at a Bundesliga table with one point between the top two rather than seven.

Instead the Dortmund players, clearly unaware that the ball had struck Boateng's arm, quickly took the resulting corner.

There are many ifs and buts to consider but, ultimately, it was a reminder of the importance for the Premier League's VARs, who have already endured a campaign of mass criticism, that there is another factor to consider post-pandemic in a largely thankless job.

The Premier League will not have to deal with such an incident in a potential title-deciding game, of course, but European places and relegation are still at stake. Can you imagine the reaction if Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea are denied a penalty in those circumstances?

Such a decision, or lack of, would lead to a no doubt fevered reaction irrespective of whether the stands are empty or not.