Barcelona returns to training to prepare for a potential restart to football in Spain. Lionel Messi and his teammates took the fields for individual sessions at the Joan Gamper training center, for which the players arrived in uniform alone and took to the three pitches without going through the changing rooms. In addition to doing their exercises, they also underwent tests to see what impact coronavirus quarantine has had on their bodies for two months.
“Finally we are getting back to normal. We hope to carry on and that soon we can get back to enjoying what we like to do most,” Arturo Vidal told sports daily Marca.
Sevilla, Villarreal, Osasuna, and Leganes have returned to training, while Real Madrid, who were two points behind Barca’s league leaders when play stopped in mid-March is likely to start again on Monday if their players pass Wednesday’s virus checks. This will mark almost two months after Real was placed into quarantine following a positive test for a basketball team member of the club. None of Real’s players have suffered from the effects of the virus, according to Spanish reports, but Zinedine Zidane would have to do without Serbian attacker Luka Jovic after Real revealed on Friday that he had his right heel broken.
Footballers have resumed training in Spain following last week’s announcement of a government plan aimed at ending quarantine for professional players. Individual training sessions are the first step towards what La Liga hopes will be a return to action in June that will be behind closed doors.
The first element of a four-phase de-escalation plan makes at any given time a maximum of six players on the pitch.
The system of La Liga would then require small group training before returning to larger team sessions. In the fourth and final step, in early June, when less than 400 people attend, the government said outside activities would go ahead.
League president Javier Tebas said, “it’s not an option” to cancel the season due to the economic effects, predicting that it will cost clubs about EUR 1 billion ($1.08 billion). Leganes coach Javier Aguirre said on Thursday that La Liga will resume on June 20 and end on July 26, though league bosses refused to confirm his claim that they had told him the dates.
“La Liga has just informed me officially and I am very happy about that because we have now scheduled the training sessions,” Aguirre told Marca Claro.
