The situation of the pandemic continues to worsen in the country in general and in soccer in particular. In the last days, 24 First Division clubs (Barcelona, Celta, Osasuna, Athletic, Granada, Alavés, Valencia, Huesca, Valladolid, Eibar, Levante, Villarreal, Betis and Cádiz, with 28 infections plus the two from Atlético) and Second Division (Castellón, Oviedo, Málaga, Rayo, Logroñés, Tenerife, Las Palmas, Mallorca and Espanyol) have announced that there are cases of coronavirus in their squads, which hinders the normal development of the preseason.
The last case is that of Umtiti, from Barcelona, and Luismi Quezada, from Cádiz, after this Friday the positives of Betis and Villarreal were also known.
The most drastic assumption is that of Athletic Club de Bilbao, which has a total of six infected. Malaga also worries, with five. He Betis It added one, but now it adds two more. Given this circumstance, LaLiga is experiencing the rebound with tension, one month after the start of the new season. Thebes reported that matchday 1 would be played on September 12, but it is not yet official and the positives just keep happening. To this day alone Getafe, Real Madrid, Seville (Gudelj has overcome the disease and joins his teammates in the Europa League) and Real Society they get rid of the virus in First.
Of course, following the health protocols established by LaLiga and the institutions, the clubs have isolated their positive cases and have subjected the rest of the squad to further tests to make sure who have not contracted the disease via their infected companions. If not, they will be able to train normally, while the infected fulfill the two weeks of quarantine. However, there would be a month left for the alleged start of the First Division and the tests after the holidays have shown that the virus lives among us and that infections are the order of the day.
In Second Division, the 'Fuenlabrada case' was the first warning that the virus can greatly condition a competition. Later, Almeria and Saragossa They had contagions that left the Playoff momentarily in the air. He Real Madrid lost to Mariano for the knockout stages of the Champions League and Simeone could not count on belt nor with Vrsaljko by the virus. Fortunately, they did not suffer more positive and continued in the continental competition without major setback.
Non-professional football has also suffered the ravages of the pandemic first-hand. A contagion in Portugalete postponed the Basque final, which closed last Saturday with the victory of Portugalete. Three false cases at the Club Deportivo Marino forced the postponement of the repechage. The RFEF finally canceled it for fear that the same thing would happen again. Meanwhile, the beginning of the next season is a question for debate, due to the lack of a protocol and the financing problems of the periodic tests necessary to preserve the health security of those involved.
A month and many questions in the air
Last May, Javier Tebas said publicly that they were working with the idea of starting the 2020-21 season on the weekend of September 12. It has not yet been confirmed and, although the situation has changed since then, the initial programming is maintained. However, the rebound in infections, the return to confinement in the most affected towns or the installation of a field hospital in Zaragoza have once again set off the alarms.
The outbreaks of coronavirus have been happening in recent weeks throughout the Spanish territory, which has caused the rate of positives is above 5%, the threshold set by the WHO to know in what situation the pandemic is and to know if it is controlled. Italy, without going any further, has 1%. Since the end of April, Spain did not have similar figures. The newspaper Le Monde is forceful when it comes to defining the situation in our country: “Spain is in a critical situation and with the worst figures in Europe.”
Given what has been seen, the start of the new season will not be exempt from the virus. There is still a month to see the evolution of the pandemic and control the number of positives in each and every one of the clubs. Of course, Despite the fact that the possibility was discussed in its day, there will be no public in the stadiums, except last minute surprise. At the moment, there has been no talk of bubbles, in the style of the NBA, to be able to start the competition while minimizing the risks.
A week of contagions in football
Eight clubs from LaLiga SmartBank and 15 from LaLiga Santander have announced a positive for coronavirus in their squads in the last hours. Espanyol, Mallorca, Las Palmas or Tenerife are some of the clubs affected in Second. Barcelona, Valladolid, Celtic, Osasuna, Athletic, Pomegranate, Alaves, Valencia, Huesca or Betis, First examples. In addition, the Almeria had an inconclusive result that put the Playoff back on the ropes and the Athletic of Madrid continues to register the infections of belt and Vrsaljko.
Valencia was the first to report the infections once the tests were carried out back to training.. AS was able to confirm that the two positives were footballers. Both are isolated in their homes and will repeat the test in the next few hours. It should be remembered that after the match against Atalanta in Milan, the club reported that 35% of the squad contracted the disease, so they could have developed antibodies.
Hours later, Huesca knew the diagnosis of its PCR tests with two positives in the template. The team from Huesca chose to carry out the controls before the meeting of their players, to avoid contagion. Betis also had only one infected in their squad. It was about Loren Moron, who has chosen to share it himself on his social networks. He will remain isolated and will not do the first phase of the preseason with his teammates. After repeating the tests, add two more infected.
Alavés, meanwhile, has a total of three infected, although it has not specified if they are footballers of the first team. In the same vein as other First Division clubs, the Vitoria club chose to carry out the tests individually and without there being a prior meeting to guarantee that none of the players could infect each other and lead to cases like Fuenlabrada in Second.
Maxime Gonalons has also tested positive, just the day Granada made it official that they signed him until 2023. His contagion will not affect the preparation of the squad, since the footballer is still isolated at his home in France and has not been in any contact with the rest of the squad. The club's medical services will assist you electronically waiting for him to be reincorporated under Diego Martínez. In the tests carried out on the group, which was going to start the preseason, the case of Darwin Machís.
Wednesday was already Barcelona, the one who opened the batch of statements and reported that one of the players who had joined the preseason suffered from the disease. It was confirmed that it is Todibo and that Aleñá would also be isolated by contact. And on Friday he reported that Umtiti has also tested positive. Celta exposed two contagions and named them: Brais Méndez and Santi Mina. He Athletic, for its part, is the club with the most cases, with a total of six. Unai Lopez, Williams, Sancet or Larrazabal confirmed that they were infected.
In Osasuna there was also one affected: his coach Jagoba Sweep yourself. He Valladolid, on the contrary, did not reveal the identity of his only contagion, but Bruno decided to tell it on his own. He Eibar also has one in its ranks, as does the I raised. He Villarreal, one of the few that got rid of the virus, reported a positive on Friday, although he did not confirm that he was a player.
In the case of Espanyol, the entire squad underwent PCR tests on Monday to be able to proceed to the start of the preseason. Once the tests have been analyzed, A positive case was found in a soccer player who turned out to be asymptomatic. The club announced it at noon and, following the protocols imposed by LaLiga, the player proceeded to quarantine at your home.
The same situation that Mallorca sadly has to face. The Balearic Islands also returned to training, but previously it was time to perform the tests and a positive was also detected. In the same way, the footballer is already isolated and the team was able to exercise again individually..
The third Segunda team to announce a positive was the UD Las Palmas. The Canarian team also underwent PCR tests on Monday and se detected a positive in the template. It is also already in quarantine and the island team returned to training, carried out individually and in two groups until Thursday, when the tests will be repeated.
The other great club in the Canaries, CD Tenerife, has carried out the tests this Tuesday and has also announced a positive case. The blue and white team has revealed the identity of the footballer: Elliot Gomez. The Tenerife left-handed winger is already serving quarantine. El Rayo also registered a contagion, like Logroñés. One more suffers Oviedo. Malaga worries with five. The last LaLiga Smartbank club to announce that it has positives was Castellón this Friday. Specifically, he has reported two, both asymptomatic.