After a transfer market that has not just started, Espanyol did start their preseason with bad news. Three footballers of the first team or members of the coaching staff (the club, as usual, does not give the names) have tested positive for COVID-19 as a result of the PCR tests that had been carried out on Sunday. It was the beginning of the preseason for the Blue and White team, which will have to see its program altered by this news.
The club thus announced the setback on its website: “Following the health protocols set by the club and the authorities, the three people have been immediately isolated at their homes and do not present symptoms at the moment. There is another member of the first team who has had the test repeated because the results were not conclusive“In this way, Vicente Moreno will have to start training without some of the players in case they are the positive ones and another one could join the list of first casualties.
Espanyol was one of the teams hardest hit by the pandemic since its inception. Already in the relegation campaign, 2019-20, up to seven players suffered it in the first wave, while last season players like Adrián Embarba, Raúl de Tomás or Óscar Melendo some encounters were also missed due to contagion and protocol. The club also announced that three other positives have been detected in controls carried out in grassroots football.
David Lopez.
RCDESPANYOL
“You have to do a preseason at the same level as last year”
Despite this inconvenience, on the other hand, already common in professional teams after more than a year living with the virus and its circumstance, David López does not lose hope that Espanyol will lay the foundations of the course in the preseason, Transcendental a year ago to clear the mind and for the team to prepare for Second: “The preseason is vital. Last year was tough, but it was one of the keys to success. The beginning is complicated, you have to do a preseason at the height of last year. You have to be together and reach a good physical level“.
The captain called the season “special” and made it clear that “we are back with more desire than ever” after a period of disconnection, “enjoy and beach with the family.” For the season to be completed after the hiatus of the previous year, David López hopes that there will finally be fans at the RCDE Stadium: “We have to win to see the full stadium again, that people support us. This time from the inside. We want to return to the routine and be able to do group activities.”
The squad has undergone medical check-ups this Monday at the Corachán Clinic and will start training at the Ciudad Deportiva while waiting to go to Malaga on July 18. But before that, there are two weeks of intense work, with the setback, again, of living with a COVID-19 that still conditions the teams.