Transfer of Europa League matches, Karasev’s refusal and quarantine in Arsenal: how coronavirus affects football Europe

Panic in football Europe due to the rapid spread of coronavirus infection COVID-19 continues to gain momentum. Before the players and the fans got used to the fact that the European Cup matches had to be held without spectators, as some games had already begun to reschedule. On Wednesday, on the eve of the start of the Europa League 1/8 final, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) announced the postponement of two out of eight meetings scheduled.

We are talking about the matches of Milan “Inter” with “Getafe” and “Seville” with “Roma”. Both games were supposed to take place on March 12, but they will not take place due to the ban by the Spanish authorities on direct flights with Italy. UEFA will monitor the development of the situation and report on its further actions. It is worth noting that in a week the teams should hold reciprocal meetings, and their status is still in question, as the restriction on flights will be valid until at least March 25th.

A few hours before the UEFA decision, Getafe announced that the team itself did not intend to come to Milan for the first match with Inter. Club President Angel Torres said he did not want to risk the health of the players.

Getafe will go to Milan, if only the situation changes dramatically in the morning. We asked UEFA to provide an alternative venue for the game. We do not want to get into the epicenter of coronavirus, we do not need it. We asked the Spanish Federation for help in order to request a postponement of the match. If we fly out of the Europa League, we will fly out. I do not want to be the one to take such a risk. We really hope that the game will take place, but if it has to be canceled, then let it be so, ”AS Torres quotes.

In Italy, where a serious outbreak of coronavirus was recorded, the number of cases has already exceeded 10 thousand people. Earlier, a ban was introduced in the country on holding all sports events until April 3, as a result of which the matches of the Italian football championship were postponed.

Also, even before official confirmation from UEFA, the inability to play with Sevilla was announced by Roma. The club announced on Twitter that it had not received permission to land in Spain and would be forced to stay at home. Now Spain is the second country in Europe and the fifth in the world in the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and death from complications caused by it.

The meeting of Sevilla and Roma was originally supposed to be serviced by the Russian team of referees led by Sergei Karasev, but it was soon announced that this appointment was canceled. If the game took place, then when they returned to Moscow, the judges would have to voluntarily leave for 14-day quarantine - such requirements apply to everyone who arrived from Spain and several other countries with the most disadvantaged situations.

The rest of the UEFA reports regarding the coronavirus only spoke about holding individual matches of European competitions without spectators. The organization confirmed that from the first games of the 1/8 finals, fans will not be able to attend meetings of Wolfsburg with Donetsk Shakhtar, Olympiakos with Wolverhampton, LASK with Manchester United and Frankfurt Eintracht with Basel. At the same time, the authorities of some countries have already announced the closure of stadiums at a number of return games, which included matches of Copenhagen with Istanbul Bashaksehir and Bayer with the Rangers. The return match between Basel and Eintracht was also supposed to take place without spectators, but ultimately the Swiss police banned the game. So far, UEFA has not commented on the fate of this match.

For London's Arsenal, the theme of coronavirus is also relevant. Recently, Londoners ingloriously flew out of the Europa League at the 1/16 final stage, losing to Olympiacos, and a few days later it became known that the owner of the Greek club Evangelos Marinakis was infected with COVID-19. He attended the European Cup match with Arsenal at the Emirates and at the same time was in contact with several players.

The recognition of Marinakis aroused football England in earnest. On March 11, the Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester City was to take place, but it had to be postponed to a later date to prevent the possible spread of coronavirus among football players. The press service of the "gunners" reported that in the next 14 days, the players will be isolated in their homes along with four other club employees who had contact with Marinakis.