Once again, three players have been infected with the corona virus, Barcelona announced in an official message on Thursday. This time it is about Sergiño Dest, Philippe Coutinho and Ez Abde. The Catalan club emphasizes that the three are in good health despite the infection and that they will spend the coming time in self-isolation. The necessary authorities have been informed of the cases of contamination.
In Spain, the corona virus is making a significant impact on the various clubs in LaLiga. Barcelona in particular will be hit hard in the last weeks of 2021. It was announced on Wednesday that Samuel Umtiti, Gavi and Ousmane Dembélé will have to stay in quarantine temporarily due to infection with the virus. On Tuesday it became clear that Jordi Alba, Clément Lenglet, Alex Balde and Dani Alves have tested positive and are therefore absent for the time being.
[COMUNICAT MÈDIC]Els jugadors Sergiño Dest, Coutinho i Ez Abde han donat positiu per Covid-19. Els jugadors es troben bé de salut i estan aïllats al seu domicili. El Club ha informa les authoritats competents pic.twitter.com/41veO21nN7
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_cat) Dec 30, 2021
Alves would make his official return against Real Mallorca on January 2 in the blaugrana. Dembélé was also expected to be infected. Sport spoke of an ‘alarm for Ousmane Dembélé’, after the 24-year-old attacker had to cancel training on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. due to corona-related complaints.
It poses a significant problem for trainer Xavi, because the trainer is dealing with many more absentees. Sergio Busquets and Gavi have been banned, while Pedri, Ansu Fati, Memphis Depay, Martin Braithwaite and also Dest are out due to a variety of injuries. Barça have a killer schedule, as the cup match against Linares (January 5), the league game at Granada (January 8) and the Supercopa game against Real Madrid (January 13) are on the program. The latter match will be played in Saudi Arabia.
Major concerns for Xavi and Barcelona after a new laundry list of infections
The corona infections have been a major concern at Barcelona all week.
A small boost for Xavi is that Depay, Pedri and Fati showed themselves again on the Barcelona training field on Tuesday. Pedri fully trained, while Fati and Memphis partially participated. For Dest, Gerard Pique, Ronald Araujo, Philippe Coutinho and Neto, the light is not yet green for the time being. Unlike the three attackers mentioned earlier, the five have not yet received permission from Xavi to resume group training.