Barcelona back to training; 5 players outside the club test positive for COVID-19

Spanish giants Barcelona are back to training. The squad restarted individual training from Friday. Top flight teams from La Liga have begun their training sessions while strictly adhering to social-distancing guidelines set out by the league authorities. Barcelona have now announced their first-team players will return to training, with the squad divided out over three pitches in order to maintain the social-distancing requirements.

Players have been asked to come to the training grounds in their kits and to return home immediately after the session ends. They are not permitted inside the changing rooms. All players have undergone mandatory testing and after the first round, none of the players tested positive. Barcelona are leading in the title race in a Liga, although by just two points. It will be a tall order for all teams to return to competitive football, having spent almost two months under lockdown. Spain is one of the worst-hit countries in the world by COVID-19. 

Meanwhile, five players from La Liga have tested positive for COVID-19. The player names have not yet been revealed. They were found positive after preliminary rounds of testing. Spanish broadcaster RAC1 reported that from the five that have tested positive, three are from the top league and two from the second division. It also reported that none of the players that tested positive are from Barcelona.

La Liga is set to resume on June 20. That’s the latest coming in from the spanish league. Although league authorities are yet to confirm when the league will restart, the date was revealed by Leganes coach Javier Aguirre. The Mexican said that the date was told to him by the authorities. According to Javier, La Liga will restart on June 20 and will conclude on July 26.

Plans have been put in place by La Liga authorities to transition the restart as smoothly as possible. Players will initially have individual training to regain fitness before group sessions begin. Five substitutions will be allowed per game so as to reduce the amount of stress on players.