Five players test positive for coronavirus: La Liga

MADRID (AFP): Spanish football league La Liga has confirmed that five players from Spain’s top two leagues have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

According to an international news agency, La Liga refused to reveal the details of the infected players. The five players will now be quarantined at home and tested again in the next few days.

In a statement, La Liga said, “Among La Liga Santander and La Liga SmartBank (Segunda) clubs, five players tested positive, all of them asymptomatic and in the final phase of the disease.”

The statement further said, “One of the objectives of these medical tests was precisely to detect the denominated or asymptomatic, that is, those people who are infected and that, without presenting symptoms, they can infect other people.”

“In this way, we guarantee everyone’s safety when returning to work according to the occupational risk regulations,” the statement added.

The statement also said, “However, the players will be allowed to rejoin their club’s training programme only after obtaining two consecutive negative test results.”

Earlier last week, players in Spain’s top-flight and Segunda division were allowed to carry out individual work at training grounds. The move was the beginning of a staggering training programme, with the aim to restart competitive games in the middle of June.

Barcelona’s players were back for their first session on Friday while Real Madrid’s will return on Monday. Football matches are expected to be staged behind closed doors for several months.