Coronavirus: Real Madrid players in quarantine and La Liga suspended

Real Madrid’s game against Manchester City next week has been postponed because of the coronavirus. The Spanish club have gone into quarantine after one of the players in their basketball team tested positive for the coronavirus, leaving all activity at the club’s Valdebebas training ground suspended with immediate effect.

The decision to go into quarantine came at the same time as La Liga announced that it will suspend the competition for at least 14 days. There have not yet been any confirmed cases of coronavirus among Madrid’s footballers, but the club took the decision to close Valdebebas after a basketball player tested positive, because the two teams share the same facilities, along with the entire youth team set up at the club. The players were sent home, along with all the staff who work at Valdebebas, and the centre was shut down entirely. Families of staff members were also contacted and told to return home from their places of work.

“The decision to postpone Tuesday’s game was made in conjunction with Uefa,” read a City statement. “The club sends it best wishes to the players and staff at Real Madrid’s football and basketball teams.”

Madrid’s first-team squad arrived for training on Thursday morning, but they abandoned the facilities and an announcement was made just after midday local time. A statement said that Madrid’s forthcoming basketball and football matches, due to be played on Thursday and Friday, would not go ahead.

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Juventus’s second leg against Lyon has also been postponed. The decision was made after Juventus defender Daniele Rugani tested positive for Covid-19, resulting in the rest of the squad being placed into self-isolation.

Meanwhile, Uefa has called a meeting – by videoconference – of the European football stakeholders on March 17th to discuss “all domestic and European competitions, including Euro 2020”.

A statement from the European governing body read: “In the light of the ongoing developments in the spread of Covid-19 across Europe - Uefa has today invited representatives of its 55 member associations, together with the boards of the European Club Association and the European Leagues and a representative of FIFPro, to attend meetings by videoconference on Tuesday March 17th to discuss European football’s response to the outbreak.”

In Spain a meeting between the league, the federation and the players’ union, meanwhile, agreed to postpone football in the first and second divisions for the next two match days, at least. La Liga had initially decided to play those fixtures behind closed doors, but at a meeting held at the federation’s headquarters in Las Rozas it was decided that no games would go ahead.

Real Madrid were due to open this weekend's league fixtures with a match against Eibar at the Santiago Bernabéu on Friday night. Catalan club Barcelona currently lead La Liga by two points.

- Guardian