Eran Zahavi has reacted furiously to the decision of the government of Cyprus through his own account on Instagram. The PSV attacker was denied access to the island on Wednesday morning, just like teammate Jordan Teze. As a result, the pair will probably not participate in the Europa League game against Omonia Nicosia on Thursday evening.

“Corona tests and regulations in football are fucking bullshit!” Zahavi writes on Instagram Stories. Zahavi and Teze got off the plane at the last minute accompanied by customs on Wednesday that brought the rest of PSV’s selection to Cyprus. The plane was to take off at 10:00 am; at seven minutes to ten, Zahavi and Teze were taken off the plane. The Cyprus government had contacted UEFA and threatened a mandatory quarantine of several days in Cyprus for the entire PSV team if Zahavi and Teze were to travel.

UEFA contacted PSV’s match manager Ron Verkerk and advised keeping Zahavi and Teze at home. The attacker and defender were tested positive for the presence of the corona virus earlier this month. They have fully recovered from the virus, but Cyprus uses a different protocol than the Netherlands and UEFA: people who tested positive earlier this month will not be allowed on the island. On Thursday evening, PSV will finish a Europa League match against Omonia Nicosia in Cyprus and it seems that Zahavi and Teze will not be there.

At the press conference prior to the game with trainer Roger Schmidt says that a quarantine was not an option, so the two players stayed at home. Nevertheless, PSV continues to try to find a solution in cooperation with UEFA. The club is ‘baffled’ at the state of affairs, as everything had already been arranged and all player lists in Cyprus were known, and hopes that Zahavi and Teze will get an exceptional position. Then they would still be able to catch the plane on Thursday morning. However, Schmidt thinks it is unlikely that this attempt will succeed.

The game starts on Thursday evening at 9 PM. If Zahavi and Teze are indeed missing against Omonia Nicosia, PSV will miss no fewer than thirteen players from the A selection. Nine of those infections are related to the corona virus. Nick Viergever, Denzel Dumfries, Pablo Rosario, Timo Baumgartl, Cody Gakpo, Joël Piroe and Maxime Delanghe are infected. Furthermore, Erick Gutiérrez, Marco van Ginkel and Maximiliano Romero have injuries that they keep aside.