Inter Milan is furious with UEFA over the latest COVID-19 result of defender, Achraf Hakimi.
According to reports, the Serie A giant could take legal action against UEFA after his result returned negative a day after the Champions League clash against Borussia Monchengladbach, which ended 2-2.
It was gathered that Hakimi tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the Borussia Monchengladbach game, but negative a day later. The tests result performed by UEFA came just hours before Wednesday’s kick-off.
This left Antonio Conte in shock as the right-back was due to start the match.
Inter in a statement released on Friday pointed out that Hakimi had tested negative, meaning he could in theory be able to play against Genoa in Serie A today.
“FC Internazionale Milano announces that Achraf Hakimi tested negative for the swab carried out yesterday after the positive results found by the UEFA checks before the match against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
The player, completely asymptomatic, was subjected to an additional swab today to assess his actual situation.,” the statement reads.
Achraf Hakimi: Inter Milan to conduct blood test to ascertain COVID-19 fact
In a bid to know if there was a mix up somewhere, Inter will be conducting a blood test on the defender. This was because as there are reportedly concerns in the Nerazzurri camp that Hakimi was prevented from playing by UEFA due to a ‘false positive’ test result.
This is not unusual. Stephan El Shaarawy was a victim. His COVID-19 result almosts forced him out of the Italy squad during the international break.
This was because his swab came back positive, but with a very low viral load. It suggested it could’ve been a ‘false positive’ result. It was later confirmed 24 hours later that he was negative after another swab was performed along with a blood test, both showing he was negative for COVID-19.
To be confirmed as a COVID-19 patient, a player must be tested positive of the virus from two positive swabs within a couple of days. Same process is followed to ascretain that someone has fully recovered from the virus.
La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Inter are so angry that they have instructed their lawyers to consider what action can be taken against UEFA for essentially ruling out a crucial player in their competition.
According to the Italian media, Hakimi had initially tested negative on Wednesday morning. But after lunch and training, they received a call at 16.10 local time that re-evaluated the results, calling them ‘lightly positive.’
