International stars from several Serie A clubs – including Inter’s Romelu Lukaku and Lazio’s Ciro Immobile – ‘are BANNED from joining up with their national sides by local health authorities’ due to having a team-mate with Covid-19
- Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez are among the players affected by the ruling
- Players have to self-isolate for 10 days if one of their team-mates tests positive
- The Italian authorities are keen to avoid a repeat of Cristiano Ronaldo’s situation
Players from six Serie A clubs, including Roma and Inter Milan, have reportedly been banned from leaving their local areas and joining up with their national teams for the time being by their local health authorities due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Fiorentina, Genoa, Sassuolo and Lazio, as well as the two clubs mentioned above, have at least one squad member who has tested positive for the virus, meaning everyone else in the team has to self-isolate.
Players cannot join up with their national sides during the international break until they have served their 10-day self-isolation period.
Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku are among the players who can’t join their national sides
The Italian health authorities want to avoid a repeat of the Cristiano Ronaldo Covid-19 situation
The first local authority to put their foot down was Florence, who forbade Fiorentina players from leaving the city early on Sunday after Jose Callejon contracted Covid-19.
Fiorentina, whose manager Beppe Iachini is on shaky ground after the team’s poor start to the season, have been in a bubble for two days and the players have to self-isolate for another eight days in line with Italian government protocols.
Other local health authorities in Italy have also prevented players from travelling, according to Football Italia, meaning Italian internationals Ciro Immobile, Domenico Criscito and Nicolo Barella will not be able to represent their country, while overseas stars like Edin Dzeko, Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku, Ivan Perisic and Arturo Vidal are also set to be deprived of the opportunity to play in next week’s games.
The self-isolating Roberto Mancini has named a huge Italy squad to cope with the pandemic
Lazio’s Ciro Immobile is one of 16 players who is now set to miss Italy’s international games
The health authorities want to avoid a repeat of what happened last month when six Juventus players, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala, broke quarantine rules by ending their self-isolation period early and joined their respective national sides after a member of the Old Lady’s squad had tested positive. Ronaldo then tested positive during his time with the Portugal camp.
With the Covid-19 uncertainty in mind, Roberto Mancini – who is himself self-isolating after testing positive for the virus – named a gigantic 41-man squad to give himself some wriggle room for the friendly against Estonia and the two Nations League matches against Poland and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
As was expected, a significant proportion (16 out of the 41) will now have to miss out.
Italy are second in their Nations League group, one point behind Poland and and one point ahead of the Netherlands.