DroneGate false alarm at Bayern Munich training ahead of Chelsea clash

Is Chelsea trying to pull a quick one on Bayern Munich ahead of leg 2 of the orund of 16 in the Champions League? Per a report from Bild, a drone was spotted flying over Sabener Strasse during Bayern’s training session behind closed doors.

This was Bayern’s final session before tomorrow’s clash against Chelsea and it was closed to the public, so the presence of the drone flying overhead was especially concerning. The report states the drone flew over the training ground for approximately 5 minutes, much to the bemusement of the players and coaching staff before it landed.

Photo by FC Bayern - Handout/Getty Images

Police immediately responded to the incident, but it turns out that this drone took a pretty harmless flight. It was being operated by a group of four adults that just wanted to show their children what the training pitch looked like. Even though their intentions were completely harmless, flying the drone over the training ground is still a serious violation. The police took the data from the drone which included a handful of pictures along with video footage and deleted them from the drone’s drive. At this point, it’s unclear exactly how the person operating the drone is going to be punished, but a considerable fine will more than likely be required to pay.

Despite the innocuous nature of the incident, Bayern had every right to be seriously concerned. With everything that’s going on in the world right now with the coronavirus pandemic, security around the grounds is extra tight and strict guidelines need to be followed as to ensure everyone’s safety. Not to mention, they also had a right to believe it was a possibility they were being spied on, considering 2018’s incident in the Bundesliga where a Werder Bremen drone was spying on a Hoffenheim training session. The fact that Bremen didn’t win that match after using spy-craft just adds insult to injury, if we’re being quite honest. Maybe Florian Kohfeldt and the rest of Bremen’s coaching staff were feeling really inspired by Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots a la the 2009 “Spygate” scandal. Win by any means can be perceived many different ways.