Coronavirus, Rugani first positive in Serie A. In Juve and Inter isolation. End of the championship? (photo ANSA)
TURIN – Daniele Rugani is the first Serie A player to have been infected with the coronavirus.
The Juventus defender, "currently asymptomatic" as the Juventus club explains with an "urgent communication", tested positive: starting tomorrow, March 12, Juventus will be in voluntary isolation, effectively stopping training at just under one week from the kick-off of the return he knockouts of the Champions League against Lyon.
Champions, not only of the bianconeri, who are now at a high risk, given that tomorrow UEFA will have to evaluate the first case of positivity for a player engaged in international competitions.
In addition to the Juventus players, Inter will also be put in isolation, protagonists of the championship match last Sunday against Juventus.
Now what happens? Before the suspension of the championship until April 3, President Gravina had spoken of possible final interruption of the Serie A in the event that a player proves positive.
We have come to this. Rugani, who plays in Serie A with Juventus, tested positive for coronavirus. Although asymptomatic. The central defender, who has trained with the rest of the team in the past few days, may have infected other players as well.
In short, the coronavirus could soon expand even among Serie A players. It was inevitable because closed doors are a measure that protects only the fans, not the players.
Football is a contact sport, where the now famous distance of one meter cannot be kept. This fact had also been reported by Pozzecco, a former Italian national basketball champion who is now a coach.
Pozzecco had asked for the interruption of the basketball championship saying that in these types of team sports, contact is inevitable and therefore contagion is also around the corner.
Now Serie A has its "patient 1". Maybe the time has come to definitively close the championship. Health first, football, as well as everything else, can wait …
Source: Blitz Quotidiano