Sunday, July 18, 2021 at 8:29 PM• Dominic Mostert

In the dressing room of Barcelona at sports complex Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper hangs a news item about Cristiano Ronaldo. In a photo posted on social media by Barcelona on Monday, in the background is a news headline from ASH seen: ‘Cristiano Ronaldo tests positive for coronavirus and can’t compete against Barcelona’. The same newspaper discovered that detail in the photo and reported on Sunday that the A4 has been hanging in the dressing room for months.

Ronaldo, ex-player of arch-rival Real Madrid, missed the Champions League match between Juventus and Barcelona at the end of October after he tested positive several times. He himself was not happy about it. “I feel good and healthy,” Ronaldo wrote on Instagram. “PCR IS BULLSHIT.” The article on the consequences of his contamination should, according to ASH as a warning to Barcelona players: anyone can contract the coronavirus and so precautions must be constantly taken.

On the board where the A4 sheet is hung, there are texts such as ‘the competition is at stake’ and ‘the rules must be followed’, the Madrid newspaper adds. There are also informative posters of LaLiga with a similar message, in both Spanish and English. “But of course the informal poster about Ronaldo is what gets the most attention, because it’s not every day that your former arch-rival is in exactly the same boat when it comes to avoiding the risks posed by the pandemic.”