The situation worsens at the Olympique de Marseille. Last week, five players (a priori Steve Mandanda, Dimitri Payet, Maxime Lopez, Jordan Amavi and Valentin Rongier, but the names have not been formalized) tested positive for Covid-19. Five cases that convinced the Covid commission to postpone the opening match of the Ligue 1 season against Saint-Etienne to September 17. The health protocol provides that “the virus is circulating in the club” from the moment a team has “more than 3 players or supervisors isolated over 8 rolling days”.
READ ALSO: Ligue 1: towards a relaxation of the medical protocol?
This Tuesday morning, OM announced bad news: three new suspected cases of Covid-19 within its workforce. Other tests will be performed to confirm, or not, these initial results. "Olympique de Marseille has just learned that 3 new suspected cases of Covid-19 have been detected within its professional workforce," the club warned in a statement.
Suspicions of cases at Stade Rennais also
If this propagation were to be confirmed, it would call into question the trip to Brest, Sunday (9 p.m.) on behalf of the 2nd day of L1. A new postponement would postpone the debut of the Marseillais to September 13 by a trip to the Parc des Princes against Paris SG! In addition to OM, the workforce of several L1 clubs have been affected by the epidemic, such as Nîmes, Montpellier, Lens, Nice, Angers, Monaco and… Brest.
Monday evening, after a first confirmed case on Thursday, August 20, Stade Rennais announced, after carrying out new tests, suspicions of Covid-19 within its professional workforce. "As soon as the results were known, the suspect players were immediately isolated and placed in fourteen," said the Breton club in a press release. It also has the LFP and its COVID commission. "As a precaution and application of the health protocol, the technical staff will adapt their training sessions by favoring work in small groups until further notice."
The DG of the League calls for a relaxation of the health protocol
Invited this Tuesday morning on BFM Business, the director general of the LFP expressed his desire to modify the health protocol which, according to him, makes the holding of the season untenable. "I consider that this protocol puts at risk the execution of our calendar for the very busy 2020-21 season with Euro 2021", declared Didier Quillot. He revealed that he had requested a relaxation of this protocol from the Minister for Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, which would consist of isolating players who tested positive while allowing the rest of the workforce to continue training.
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