FOOTBALL – First there was the fear of having crowds at football matches. Now the problem seems to be the ability for a club to produce a team due to mass corona infections.
Ahead of the fixtures between today and January 3, there are several La Liga clubs with mass corona infections which could result in games being postponed.
Stadium capacity
Furthermore, due to the rapid increase of the Omicron variant, from tomorrow, the Spanish government has put a limit of 75% capacity for matches. This restriction will remain in place until at least the end of January. This measure can also be altered downwards by each autonomous region. For example, the Basque government has decided to cap supporter numbers to 50% for those stadiums with a capacity of over 5,000. Teams affected in this region are Real Sociedad, Athletic Bilbao, and Alaves.
Positive testing
As players and training staff are being tested constantly, the number of corona infections identified will continue to change. Also, as players complete their isolation period, some previously infected may return to training. Therefore, this is the information InSpain.News has as we write.
We list each club in La Liga and detail the mass corona infections.
Real Madrid – 4
All 7 infections from before the holidays have already been recovered. However, on Wednesday the club announced Valverde, Camavinga, Courtois, and Vinicius had tested positive.
Valencia – 4
Valencia also has four positives, two of them are Marcos André and Diakhaby. However, the other two members of the first team have not been confirmed.
Rayo Vallecano – 17
Currently, the most damaged club of all is Rayo Vallecano. In the last week, they have detected 17 positive cases in the first squad. Now, they only have ten players available for the weekend. Therefore, there is a danger the match on Sunday against Atlético may have to be postponed.
Alaves – 6
Alaves have reported six positive cases, but none of them are in the first team.
Athletic Bilbao – 6
Raúl García, Iñigo Lekue, Unai Nuñez and Asier Villalibre tested positive after the holidays and yesterday the infections of Zarraga and Marcelino were announced. However, if the pre-holiday infected players completed isolation, then they may be fit to play.
Atletico – 4
Atlético squad including Simeone has also been attacked with force. Although negative antigen test results were returned on Wednesday, PCR tests carried out on Thursday resulted in five positives: Simeone, Griezmann, Herrera, Joao Felix, and Koke.
Barcelona – 9
Barcelona is already going through a seriously difficult time with injuries and recent performances. And on Thursday, the Barça club added 3 more infected players. They are Dest, Coutinho and Abde. They join previously infected footballers, Dani Alves, Lenglet, Jordi Alba, Dembélé, Umtiti, and Gavi. Therefore, as all of them are in isolation, they will not be able to play on Sunday against Mallorca. However, as reported on the official website, Neto, Piqué and R. Araujo returned to training. And Jutglà, Álvaro Sanz, Comas, Mika Mármol, Guillem, Lucas de Vega, Ilias and Estanis from Barça B team also joined the session.
Real Betis – 6
Six players at Real Betis have been infected.
Cadiz – 5
Five players from the first team have tested positive.
Celta Vigo – 9
There were four positives after returning from the holidays, however, the additional five that were announced on the 23rd could be ready for this weekend if they test negative.
Elche – 12
The Elche team announced there are 12 positive results. However, this is split between the first team, the second team, and the technical staff.
Getafe – 0
So far Getafe remains unaffected.
Espanyol – 5
Five players plus 2 coaching staff at Espanyol have tested positive.
Granada – 0
Granada has not reported any first team positives so far. However, one player from the second team and 3 technical staff have returned positive results.
Levante – 5
Five cases have been reported at Levante
Mallorca – 4
Mallorca reported on Tuesday that it had seven positives, four of them first-team players and another three belonging to the staff.
Osasuna – 4
Following positive test results from Íñigo Pérez and Chimy Ávila, Kike García and Budimir have now also tested positive.
Real Sociedad – 10
There are ten positives among first-team players and seven in the second team.
Sevilla – 4
Four players have tested positive.
Villarreal – ?
Villarreal has not released any information regarding the first team or whether any player has contracted the virus. However, training sessions are being done behind closed doors.
Scheduled matches
Valencia is due to play Espanyol today, and the other matches this week (subject to teams being available) are as follows;
January 2
Getafe v Real Madrid
Atletico v Rayo Vallecano
Elche v Granada
Real Betis v Celta Vigo
Alaves v Real Sociedad
Mallorca v Barcelona
January 3
Villarreal v Levante
Osasuna v Athletic Club
Cadiz v Sevilla
As we write, a mass of over 100 positive corona infections was confirmed by teams and many players will miss the next round of La Liga games and possibly next week’s Spanish Cup round.
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