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At 11:00 am, under the sun of justice, an absence became apparent yesterday at the Alfredo di Stéfano stadium in Valdebebas. On the return to training for Real Madrid, after seven days of vacation, Mariano Díaz was missing . The Dominican-born striker had tested positive for Covid-19 early on Monday, so he was confined to his home so as not to endanger his 24 teammates. The strategy of the medical services, led by Niko Mihic , was successful and the separate preliminary tests avoided the possibility of any collective contagion.

The return of the knockout stages of the Champions League, on August 8 in Manchester, is not in danger for the brand-new League champion, who will have no problem complying with the strict protocol established by UEFA. Nor is the case of Mariano at all comparable to that of Fuenlabrada in La Coruña. However, behind his positive beats the danger to which footballers are exposed in these days of rest and outbreaks. The cluelessness of the stars is as deadly as that of any ordinary citizen. And Mariano can from now on give good faith of it.

It all started a week ago, when the footballer decided to visit his family in Premià de Mar. Mariano's ties to this Barcelona town, where he was born on August 1, 1993, are still very close. His parents still live there and Eduard , one of his brothers, plays in the Esportiu Premià Club . Whenever he has a gap in his schedule, he goes back there and this time was not going to be an exception. However, recent problems in this Maresme region would take its toll.

More than a thousand cases

According to data from the Health Department of the Generalitat, from Malgrat de Mar, in the north, to Montgat, in the extreme south, more than a thousand cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the last two weeks. The regrowths in Maresme, whose beaches continue to be littered with bathers, have also claimed more than a hundred cases in Premià de Mar. One of them is Mariano, who will not be able to help his team in the crucial game at Etihad Stadium.

"IM perfectly. Thank God, my family and my environment are also great, "explained yesterday, the author of 2-0 in the Bernabéu classic. In reality, he had considered the holidays as a simple parenthesis with his old friends, with whom he also interacts in Madrid and with whom he allows himself a getaway to the Malaga town of Estepona. «He told us that there was little to enjoy because he still had the Champions League very much in mind. In addition, he is not one of those who gets into discos, "say sources close to the footballer. However, the absence of the most obvious sanitary measures, such as the use of a mask or respect for the safety distance, have played against it. Even when you travel in a limousine or on a yacht, you cannot feel safe from the virus.

Individualized and staggered

Mariano's intensity, on and off the pitch, has contrasted with the poise shown by Dr. Mihic, who has had to face, four months later, another critical situation. Trey Thompkins' positive , in mid-March, had forced the soccer and basketball teams to two weeks isolation. So this time, the Serbian changed the plan to carry out the tests individually and in stages. Each footballer came from a different destination and bringing them all together was an extra risk. The PCR tests carried out yesterday before the first session in Valdebebas will continue to be the norm in the coming days. In the event of a feat against City, everything established to travel to Lisbon will have to be strictly adhered to

The UEFA protocol, as MARCA announced yesterday, requires negative results in the PCR tests 48 hours before traveling to the Portuguese capital. Likewise, the highest body of European football will assign a medical manager to each team, which will have a limit of 45 people. It will not be possible to coincide with the rival on arrival at the stadium and an interval of 10 minutes must be respected. Of course, the body chaired by Aleksander Ceferin stresses the mandatory use of masks and social distance. All for a Covid-19 free Champions.

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