One case in Lens, two cases in Nice, one case in Angers, one case in Monaco. The pandemic continues to make its way in professional clubs, reinforcing the threat that hangs over the first day, already marked by the postponement of Marseille-Saint-Etienne. Lens defender Jonathan Clauss tested positive for Covid-19 at the start of the week, his coach Franck Haise announced on Friday two days before Lensois' big comeback in the elite, scheduled for Nice (5:00 p.m.). “He is completely asymptomatic, he manages to do an interview in the room every day. He is isolated in La Gaillette (the training center, editor's note), he sleeps there and he can go out for one hour a day, ”explained the artesian technician at a press conference. "We did a test yesterday (Thursday) and again this morning (Friday) so we are waiting for the results," said Haise. The holding of the match is all the more questioned as two cases were announced Friday within the Nice workforce, yet spared until then. The two players, whose identities have not been revealed, obviously did not take part in Friday's training session. “I felt on the field that the rest of the workforce is worried. I am too, for Sunday's match against Lens and beyond, "commented coach Patrick Vieira." It complicates the planning of the work. We will have to live with it, and be very responsible at home ”.
First day truncated
The Lens coach wants to be positive. “I hope we play. If we start to postpone the first day, we have not gone out ... I think we have to play to the maximum when possible otherwise we will end the season in 2023, ”said Haise. On the morning of Friday, Angers also announced the positive test of its defender Rayan Aït-Nouri, placed in solitary confinement. And at the start of the afternoon, Monaco was added to the list of hit clubs, with a case concerning the professional group, whose identity has not been disclosed. The SCO must travel to Dijon on Saturday (5 p.m.) for its first day, Monaco facing Reims on Sunday (1 p.m.). Moreover, in Ligue 2, the championship of which resumes on Saturday, Paris FC announced three contaminations. According to the protocol of the Professional Football League (LFP), the virus is considered to be circulating in a club from four positive cases (players or supervisors) over eight rolling days, which leads to the referral of a Covid commission responsible for decide on the possible postponement of the meetings of the club concerned.
Already cut off from two matches, Paris SG-Metz and Montpellier-Lyon, due to the qualifications of PSG and OL for the semi-finals of the Champions League, the first day of Ligue 1, which starts Friday with Bordeaux- Nantes (7:00 p.m.) is also truncated by the new coronavirus. The Marseille / Saint-Étienne meeting, which was to open the new season on Friday, has in fact been postponed due to four cases of Covid-19 in the Marseille workforce. And the Nîmes-Brest match, scheduled for Sunday, is also threatened after the discovery of four positive players in the Crocodiles this week.
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- The 2020-21 calendar of Ligue 1
