Rome (AFP)

"Very happy to be able to represent a territory which suffers". By qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Champions League, Atalanta Bergamo offered Tuesday a little comfort to Lombardy, hard hit by the coronavirus.

Before their coach Gian Piero Gasperini, the Atalanta players also wanted to salute their city from Valencia by showing the camera a t-shirt on which was written "Bergamo, it's for you. Don't give up!" .

In Italian football, now almost at a standstill, the solidarity and civic initiatives of clubs, players and supporters are multiplying. Lombardy pays the highest price for coronavirus with 617 of the 827 deaths in the country.

Their initiative recalls that of the scorer of Sassuolo, city of Emilia-Romagna, Francesco Caputo, who after a goal against Brescia on Monday, disputed just before the suspension of national competitions, had brandished a message to all Italy: "Everything will be fine Stay at home. "

Caputo is not a Serie A star but his words have touched the country and the photo of the moment has been widely circulated on social networks. "It was my idea, I hadn't told anyone about it. I wanted to get this message across, in a difficult time for the whole country," he said.

The voice of footballers carries far into Italy. They are now using it to encourage the population to respect the confinement instructions.

"Avoid unnecessary travel. We stay at home!" Tweeted Francesco Totti, the former idol of AS Rome on Wednesday.

La Fiorentina for its part broadcast a video of two players, one reading and the other playing with his children. "Guys, we stay at home. Do it too and you will see that we will all come out stronger than before. We kiss you all," says Marco Benassi, the middle of the Viola, in this short film .

Furious Sunday that the championship was not stopped and having to play the next day at Sassuolo with Brescia, Mario Balotelli wanted to be more positive on Wednesday.

"We are Italy and we will rise together," wrote the former Marseillais on Instagram, paying tribute to the doctors and nurses, "our heroes".

- Fundraising -

Giorgio Chiellini, captain of Juventus, also thanked these "doctors who live in the hospital and who have not returned to their families for weeks".

Several footballers have also taken advantage of their notoriety to launch fundraisers for various hospitals, especially in the regions most affected by the epidemic.

The internationals Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Lorenzo Insigne (Naples) and Andrea Petagna (Spal) have launched initiatives of this type for medical structures in Turin, Naples and Milan.

The supporters also participate in the solidarity effort. Those of Atalanta who had taken tickets for the match in Valencia renounced the reimbursement of tickets and asked that the sum be paid to the John XXIII hospital in Bergamo, where many coronavirus patients are treated.

The tifosi of AC Milan have chosen to donate to the Regional Emergency Agency (AREU) the amount of the reimbursement of tickets for the Milan-Genoa match, finally disputed behind closed doors on Sunday.

The club had previously announced a donation of 250,000 euros to the same structure, to which the players should also give a day's wages.

Organized groups of Inter Milan supporters have launched a fundraiser for a city hospital.

Beyond football, swimming champion Federica Pellegrini, a huge star on the peninsula, has also launched a call to her Instagram account. "Eh, my Italy! We will succeed in overcoming that too. We just have to do our best!" Wrote the Olympic champion.

© 2020 AFP