Italian side Brescia ‘afraid’ to return to playing field after coronavirus wreaks havoc
While most clubs in Serie A are resuming training this week, last-place Brescia is one of the holdouts, with captain Daniele Gastaldello saying his entire squad opposes resuming.
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With his team based in the Lombardy region where nearly 15,000 people have died from the coronavirus, Brescia captain Daniele Gastaldello said his entire squad opposes resuming the Serie A season.
“In Brescia we’ve all been touched,” Gastaldello told Italian daily La Repubblica.
“We all know someone who has been directly hit by the tragedy. We’ve realised how little it takes to ruin a family.”
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While most clubs in the Italian league are resuming training on an individual basis this week, last-place Brescia is one of the holdouts.
“We don’t feel safe. They’re asking us to resume training and to get back out onto the field right away, concentrating 12 matches in one-and-a-half months. It’s putting all of the players’ safety on the line,” Gastaldello said.
“I’m speaking for me and for my teammates. If the price of resuming is us getting seriously injured, it’s not worth it anymore. . We’re afraid.”
Gastaldello said he and his teammates were never tested for the virus during the nationwide lockdown in Italy, so “we’ll know if we’ve had it only once they test us before training.”
Brescia president Massimo Cellino last month threatened to forfeit the club’s remaining games if the season resumes - and he said it has nothing to do with avoiding relegation.
Gastaldello echoed a statement by another relegation-threatened club, Eibar in Spain, which said it was “afraid” of playing again.
“Yes we’re afraid. We’re all exposed, not just the players but also the equipment managers, the physical therapists, the massage therapists,” Gastaldello said.
“Everyone inevitably comes into contact.”
Meanwhile, four Sampdoria players, including one who had previously recovered, and three from Fiorentina have tested positive for coronavirus.
At last! World sport set to resume
Bundesliga clubs are racing to get ready for the restart of the season in nine days’ time, amid concerns about whether the players will stick to the strict hygiene guidelines implemented to ensure the campaign is completed.
Twenty-four hours after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government gave the German Football League (DFL) the green light to return, the league said it will resume the season on Saturday, May 16.
The Bundesliga will be the first top European league to restart matches since the outbreak of the coronavirus forced lockdown measures to be imposed across the continent.
However, Christian Seifert, CEO of the DFL, warned clubs they are “on probation”.
“I expect everyone to live up to their responsibilities,” he said.
The pick of the first matches sees second-placed Borussia Dortmund host arch-rivals Schalke in the Ruhr derby at Signal Iduna Park.
Instead of being roared on by an 81,000 crowd, it will be in a near-empty stadium with a maximum number of 300 people, including both teams, allowed at each game.
“The games will look and feel different,” Seifert admitted.
All games will be played without spectators, but broadcaster Sky has said it will air matches live on Sky Sports News, a free channel.
Politicians wanted matches shown on free-to-air TV to help prevent fans gathering to watch matches at a place with a Sky subscription.
Spain puts forward rule modification
The Spanish football federation and the top-flight La Liga will implement the temporary use of up to five substitutes in matches if a rule modification is approved.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is expected to approve the change to ease the strain on players in a tight program after leagues restart from coronavirus-related suspensions.
Spanish football, which hopes to restart in mid June, would allow these five substitutions to take place at three different points in matches, rising from the previously permitted three changes.
Meanwhile, La Liga team Getafe will give their 13,500 season ticket holders free entry to matches in the 2020-21 season, president Angel Torres said.
“Next season the 13,500 season ticket holders will come for free,” Torres told Radio Marca.
Big threat to Premier League
The English Premier League season could be cancelled if teams do not agree to play the remaining 92 fixtures in neutral venues amid the COVID-19 pandemic, says League Managers Association chief executive Richard Bevan.
Professional football in England has been suspended since mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 32,000 people in the United Kingdom, the highest death toll in Europe.
Discussions are continuing about resuming matches after clubs were told on a EPL conference call earlier this month that only neutral venues approved from a health and safety point of view will be allowed.
Asked if the 2019/20 campaign would be cancelled if teams voted against playing in neutral venues, Bevan told the BBC: “Yes, I think that probably is correct.”
“The government, if they haven’t already, will be making it clear that home matches with densely populated stadia, really puts into question whether social distancing rules can be adhered to.”
But Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow warned that clubs would not support measures increased the risk of the “$384 million catastrophe” that is relegation.
Villa, having played a game less than those around them, sit in the relegation zone as things stand, two points behind West Ham - who are outside the bottom three on goal difference - with Brighton a further two points better off in 15th place.
“Personally I’m against it,” Purslow said on the UK’s talkSPORT radio.
“We’re a club that prides itself on home form. Two-thirds of our wins this season have come at home.
“We’ve got six home games left to play and I think any Villa fan would agree that giving up that advantage is a massive decision for somebody running Aston Villa and I certainly wouldn’t agree to that unless those circumstances are right.”
Brighton - for whom Socceroos Mat Ryan and Aaron Mooy play for - also are opposed to the idea of playing their remaining games at neutral venues and LMA chief Bevan said clubs needed to get on board with the proposal if the season was to go ahead.
Originally published as Italian side Brescia ‘afraid’ to return to playing field after coronavirus wreaks havoc