A week after the announcement of a Covid-19 outbreak within the Italian national team, an eighth international ‘azzurro’ tested positive: Atalanta midfielder Matteo Pessina. This was reported this Wednesday by the Bergamo club, which explained that Pessina is asymptomatic and in isolation.
Since the return of the Italian team from Lithuania, where they played (and won 0-2) on March 31, before Pessina seven Italian internationals officially tested positive: Leonardo Bonucci and Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Marco Verratti and Alessandro Florenzi (PSG), Vincenzo Grifo (Freiburg) and Alessio Cragno (Cagliari).
According to various media, the Torino goalkeeper, Salvatore Sirigu, is also positive. The garnet club announced a case but without revealing the identity of the player.
The Italian Federation announced the positive cases of four members of its staff, right after the match in Lithuania. But there would be more cases in the large delegation of about 60 people who had made the trip to Vilnius, according to La Repubblica.
Of the 38 players called up by Roberto Mancini for the meetings against Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania, an unusually high number to face possible injuries, almost thirty played in Serie A on Saturday, including Cragno, Sirigu, Bernadeschi and Pessina.