Everyone home and without leaving

Professional soccer in Spain has not only suspended its next two days, but 22 clubs have also suspended their training sessions. Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Seville, Valencia, Osasuna, Valladolid, Celta, Mallorca, Levante, Leganés and Espanyol, in addition to ten Second teams (Almería, Elche, Rayo, Tenerife, Málaga, Zaragoza Las Palmas, Lugo, Extremadura, Fuenlabrada, Sporting and Deportivo) announced that they are shutting down their facilities, some until March 23 and most “until further notice.”

The RFEF issued in the morning a statement recommending “to all soccer clubs in Spain to suspend all group training and prepare individual training plans for their soccer players, as well as that all players scrupulously follow the instructions of the authorities sanitary and governmental ”.

The CEO of Leganés tested positive for coronavirus

In general, the Primera clubs had taken such preventive measures beforehand to the RFEF statement, two of them by contagion in their environment. The Real Madrid squad has been in quarantine since Thursday, when the positive for coronavirus of the power forward Trey Thompkins was confirmed, which like the rest of the basketball team players shares common areas with the footballers in Valdebebas. The other team that has entered quarantine is Leganés. The club reported that its CEO Martín Ortega has tested positive.

The pepineros players, as well as the rest of the employees who have had contact with the CEO, must remain for 14 days at their homes and are prohibited from leaving the Community of Madrid, even under threat of sanction if they breach such isolation.

The Leganés doctor must decide in the next few hours whether to test all footballers or only those with symptoms for the coronavirus test. In this sense, the head of the Levante UD medical services decided that his coaching staff and footballers should undergo the test after training, even though “none” had symptoms of Covid-19.

Which clubs are still planning to train next week?

Alavés, Betis, Villarreal, Atlético and Getafe kept the closing of this edition next Monday; while Eibar, Athletic and Granada announce on their website that they will return to work on Tuesday, although all of them qualify that their agenda “is pending the evolution” of the pandemic in Spain, where today the state of alarm that yesterday would take effect decreed the Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. As for the Second teams that maintain their activity, Ponferradina plans to exercise today, while Girona and Oviedo will do it on Tuesday, those from Huesca on Wednesday and teams like Alcorcón have not yet decided on their work plan .

The clubs send work to their players to perform at home

The footballers of the clubs that have already paralyzed their activity went home with the guidelines to follow in the coming days, both physical as nutritional and medical. Thus, for example, Dr. Jaume Padrós, president of the Barcelona College of Physicians and head of occupational health for the club, and Doctor Antoni Trilla, head of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology at the Hospital Clínico, gave a half-hour talk to the footballers Barcelona on preventive measures to avoid the risk of contagion.

The clubs stressed their footballers in their performance protocols to stay at home, prohibiting them from traveling outside the cities in which they now live and from exercising in gyms or public facilities. In addition, they have been advised to limit contacts outside their closest family circle and must immediately report any symptoms associated with Covid-19 to the club doctor.