Coronavirus: Real Madrid player ‘tests positive’ ahead of Champions League tie against Man City


Real Madrid’s Champions League preparations are thrown into chaos as striker Mariano tests positive for coronavirus after his holiday – just 10 days before trip to face Manchester City

Real Madrid striker Mariano Diaz has tested positive for coronavirus and will now miss their Champions League tie with Manchester City next week.

The club have confirmed that Diaz returned a positive Covid-19 test and is now in quarantine at home after missing training on Tuesday. 

Spanish newspaper Marca are reporting that Diaz returned a positive test on his return from holiday following a trip after the conclusion of the LaLiga season. 

Real Madrid striker Mariano Diaz has tested positive for coronavirus after returning to the club

Diaz returned from a short holiday after the LaLiga season finished and was tested on Monday

Diaz returned from a short holiday after the LaLiga season finished and was tested on Monday

The Spanish giants are due to play Manchester City in the Champions League next Friday 

A club statement read: ‘After the COVID-19 tests carried out individually on our first football team yesterday (Monday) by the Real Madrid Medical Services, our player Mariano has given a positive result.

‘The player is in perfect health and complying with the sanitary isolation protocol at home.’

The Spanish giants are due to play the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie at the Etihad Stadium on August 7.

The player will now have to undertake a two-week quarantine period, ruling them out of the game against the Premier League side. 

The news comes in the wake of the ongoing row between the UK and Spanish Government’s after the UK re-imposed the requirement for travellers arriving from Spain to spend 14 days in quarantine. 

But the positive test is now likely to bring the game into question, particularly if more Real players test positive in their next round of testing.

It will also ramp up the pressure on the Government, with the Spanish champions currently allowed to the travel and play despite the UK’s new quarantine rules due to exemptions surrounding their ‘bubbled environment’.   

It remains to be seen how the positive test will impact the game against Manchester City

It remains to be seen how the positive test will impact the game against Manchester City

It was decided on Saturday that the UK should remove Spain from its list of safe countries to travel to, after fears were raised that the European country was experiencing a second wave of coronavirus infections. 

Ministers decided to reimpose quarantine travel restrictions on Spain from midnight on Sunday after it emerged 10 Britons had returned from the country with coronavirus.

The UK’s chief medical office, Professor Chris Whitty, led a meeting with six senior ministers to discussing the worsening of the situation in Spain.  

It comes just over a week after Real wrapped up their LaLiga campaign, which followed a strict set of protocols to ensure the season could be concluded in wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Real won the LaLiga title but face an uphill task to eliminate City for the Champions League. Pep Guardiola’s side hold a 2-1 aggregate lead from the first leg at the Bernabeu in March.  

More to follow.