Barcelona footballers start testing before their first workouts
Just before nine o’clock in the morning, the Barcelona Club Center came to life again: the first members of the squad waiting to be tested for infection with the new coronavirus started arriving before they, like the other colleagues from the two most powerful national football competitions, start training on the club’s greens again .
Sergi Roberto, Ivan Rakitic, Clement Lenglet and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen had to make their first appearance at the Joan Gamper Club Center, where they began testing football players before training in small groups. An hour earlier, the club’s premises had been inspected by LaLige inspector Miguel Carretero for the last time and turned on the green light for employees.
In addition to testing for the presence of a new coronavirus, football players also undergo a medical examination similar to the one they perform before the start of each season. Rakitic reportedly left home for the first time, according to the Madrid daily AS, a few seconds later followed by goalkeeper Ter Stegen. Groups of football players were arriving at intervals of about 20 minutes, and AS noticed that some already wore masks and even gloves in their cars, but again others did not wear them. The test will not be attended by French winger Ousmane Dembele, who is not registered due to a serious injury and would in no case be eligible to appear in the 2019/20 season. Therefore, at least for the time being, he is not allowed to pass the test and join teammates in training.
Until the end of all competitions, Barcelona led the Spanish Championship, and awaited the return match of the eighth finals of the Champions League against Napoli, with which she draw in Naples (1: 1). Testing for footballers in Spain should start at the end of April, but the leadership of the league competition has been postponed. Spain, however, is still in a state of emergency, which could last another 14 days. The current deadline expires on May 10, but Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has already announced he will seek a two-week extension.
The competition’s management expects that of the approximately 2,000 tests that were started on Wednesday, and will last until the end of the month, with at least 30 swabs. The results will be anonymous, and the mandatory quarantine will be infected.
