MADRID, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Spanish La Liga side Atletico Madrid did not train on Monday morning, with players and staff isolating in their homes as they await the results of a second round of tests for COVID-19.
The tests were carried out on Sunday after the club confirmed that two members of the Atletico party due to travel to Lisbon this Monday for their Champions League quarterfinal against Red Bull Leipzig had tested positive.
Although the club didn't specify whether the positives were from players or members of the club's technical staff, Spanish sports papers Diario AS, Marca and El Mundo Deportivo all reported on Monday that it was two players that had returned the positive results.
While there is a chance the two positives came from erroneous results, there is also a worry that Sunday's second round of tests will produce more positives and put Atletico's place in the last eight of the tournament at risk.
UEFA's COVID-19 protocol stipulates that players who return a positive test 72 hours before they are due to fly to Lisbon cannot travel, and adds that clubs have to have at least 13 first-team players available.
Meanwhile, there is also a chance that Portuguese health authorities could insist on quarantining anyone who has been in contact with an infected person.
Tests carried out in May when players returned to training before the last 11 La Liga matches showed that 10 Atletico players had already generated antibodies for COVID-19, meaning they had already been in contact with the virus.
Meanwhile, Atleti defender Renan Lodi tested positive before recovering to play an important role in his team's end to the domestic campaign. Enditem
