The pulse against the virus: more than 100 positives, a Barça to the limit and Courtois waiting

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Traditionally, after the Christmas break, the biggest risk for footballers was to return to training with a few extra pounds.

Or, as happened in the 90s, with

and some other Brazilian, who managed to return to Spain in time without the homelessness disrupting his coach's plans.

In the last two years, but much more in 2021, the great threat is to come back infected from the holidays. Some Christmas stamps of players in remote places, most of them publicized through their social networks, have resulted in a handful of positives by Covid. The majority, yes, asymptomatic. The sixth wave, unceremoniously driven by the Omicron variant, has turned the positives into a kind of lottery.

Until further notice, there are more than a hundred First Division players who have tested positive upon their return. Real Madrid, Atlético and Barcelona have notified the cases with names and surnames. Many others, such as Sevilla or Betis, where only the face of

has transcended

, have limited themselves to giving the number. And, directly, Villarreal has made the decision not to even issue statements about it. Everyone deals with the virus as they want.

But the most affected club is Barcelona.

Namely: Dani Alves, Lenglet, Jordi Alba, Umtiti, Dembélé, Gavi, Coutinho, Abde, Alex Balde and Dest.

start the new year in Mallorca with a tightrope exercise to give meaning to his board.

Ten players will miss next Sunday's match (9:00 p.m.), unless two negative PCRs are reported.

The double negative in PCR

An issue, that of the double negative, difficult, but not impossible. Let them tell

. On Wednesday he appeared together with

,

and

(Jovic joined yesterday) on the Real Madrid casualty list due to the virus and yesterday he presented his second negative PCR.

was rubbing his gloves, but now the Belgian is at the expense of the health authorities giving him permission to play against Getafe (Sunday, 2:00 pm). The rest of the pre-Christmas outbreak is past.

Without its coach, without its captain and without two of its scorers, Atlético will start 2022. Yesterday the rojiblanco club announced the positives of

,

,

,

and

. In the case of the technician and the last two names, it is the second time that they have to keep quarantine because they are infected by the virus.

None of them will be in the Wanda Metropolitano derby against Rayo (4.15pm).

A duel for the Champions League that, at times, seemed doomed to postponement, due to the casualties by Covid of the Vallecano team.

Up to 11 affected people from the squad came to announce the franjirrojo team, in addition to another six between managers and technicians, including

, who returned yesterday.

Right now, neither

nor

, chanted by the rojiblanca stands in another era and on the list of positives, will be able to step on the stadium where their team was.

13 tokens available

Unlike what has happened in the Premier, where the Ómicron variant has won six of the 20 games of the two Christmas days, the League, a priori, will continue its course without surprises.

As long as a club has 13 chips available between the first squad and the subsidiary, postponement will not be an option.

In England, fewer than 14 first-squad players (including at least one goalkeeper) are sufficient to give the go-ahead for suspension.

This afternoon, at 4.15 pm, on the Mestalla pitch, Valencia (four positives) and Espanyol (five) say goodbye to the year with the start of a 19th day under the magnifying glass of that sixth wave of infections that, for the first time Since that confinement in 2020, he has returned to relentlessly threaten football.

The coronavirus does not make distinctions.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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