Barcelona football club has recorded one player in their fold that has contracted the deadly COVID-19 but said the player had no contact with other members of the squad.
The player who was not named is said to be among the 9 players that just returned to the club for pre-season training ahead of the 2020-2021 season. According to a statement from the Spanish La Liga giants, the player showed no symptoms even after it was confirmed that he was a carrier of the virus. The player is being quarantined at his home in Spain.
For clarity, the 9 players who were tested for the virus were said not to be part of the squad that went to Lisbon, Portugal, for the remaining rounds of the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona‘s statement confirmed that the player who tested positive for the virus did not have any contact with any of the club’s players in Lisbon.
One positive case of Covid-19 among the nine players starting the preseason. https://t.co/8wtNikt2mZ
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 12, 2020
The players that were tested on Tuesday were: Pedri, Trincao, Matheus Fernandes, Jean-Clair Todibo, Moussa Wague, Carles Alena, Rafinha, Juan Miranda, and Oriol Busquets. They were due to resume pre-season training today, August 12 in Barcelona while the senior team members resume their Champions League campaign in Lisbon later in the day.
Barcelona will face Bayern Munich on Friday, 14 August 2020 in a one-legged quarter-final match. The match is scheduled to take place behind closed doors in Lisbon as a measure to contain the spread of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
Barcelona FC is the third major club in Spanish La Liga that has recorded a confirmed COVID-19 case since the pandemic started. Earlier in August one of Barcelona’s rivals, Atletico Madrid reported that two members of their squad had tested positive for the virus. Also this week, another Spanish club, Valencia confirmed that two members of the team had tested positive for the virus.
Since March 2020, Spain has been one of the worst-hit countries in Europe as far as the pandemic is concerned. So far, the country has recorded at least 373,682 COVID-19 confirmed cases. It has also recorded 28,581 COVID-19 related deaths.
