Serie A giants Inter and AC Milan on Friday both resumed training, two months after the COVID-19 pandemic placed the northern Italian city under a strict lockdown.
Inter on Friday said that all of their players and staff members had tested negative for the coronavirus, clearing the way for them to return to individual training.
Side captain Samir Handanovic led the way in the afternoon, as players — including Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku — wearing masks and some in gloves arrived at the team’s training center in Appiano Gentile, 35km northwest of Milan.
Photo: AFP
Temperatures were measured on arrival, with three groups of players alternating in the afternoon to respect social distancing rules.
Their city rival resumed earlier in the week, with club technical director Paolo Maldini saying that “not going back on the pitch would be a disaster.”
Former captain Maldini, together with his 18-year-old son Daniel, a Milan youth team player, have both recovered from COVID-19, but the San Siro outfit revealed on Friday that some other squad members are still not negative.
“You have to be careful, but not to resume would be a disaster from all points of view,” Maldini said during an Instagram live chat on Friday. “France were wrong to decree the end immediately, but we will accept what will be the verdict of the government. There is so much uncertainty.”
The city in the northern Lombardy region is the epicenter of Italy’s outbreak, one of the worst in Europe in terms of deaths and infections.
One by one, stars have returned to Italy, with Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo in two weeks’ coronavirus quarantine as his team got back to training on Tuesday.
Milan are awaiting the return of Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic early next week.
However, opinions are divided on whether to follow France and the Netherlands and end the season, or the Bundesliga and return behind closed doors.
The Italian Football Federation on Thursday met with the government’s Technical Scientific Committee to discuss details of the medical protocol for a return to group training.
“Tell us what we need to do to return to play,” federation president Gabriele Gravina was reported to have told government officials.
Italian Minister for Sport Vincenzo Spadafora afterward said that he is “hopeful” that group training could resume on May 18.
“I don’t want to risk forecasts at this time. We must be careful,” Spadafora said. “If it is to be resumed, it will be behind closed doors.”
As the meeting was taking place, ACF Fiorentina and UC Sampdoria announced 10 positive tests — seven players and three staff members.
On Wednesday, a Torino player also tested positive, giving “extremely negative signals for a restart of the championship,” newspaper Il Messagero reported.
Italy soccer bosses want to follow the example of Germany, which returns to action on Saturday and where only positive cases are to be put into isolation, but the scientific committee insisted that soccer must comply with the general rule that those who have been in contact with positive cases should be isolated.
In this scenario, any positive screening after the resumption of collective training on May 18 would sideline an entire team.
Another obstacle is that the scientific committee protocol requires regular, repeated screening for each player, meaning that clubs would need to acquire a considerable number of testing kits, which could prove difficult in regions such as Lombardy.
There is also the problem of individual regions that could refuse to host teams from highly infected areas.
The league is convening an emergency assembly on Wednesday to take stock of the situation and discuss TV rights.
AC Milan president Paolo Scaroni told the media on Friday: “We have some infected players in the process of recovery.”
“We have to get used to living with the virus and this also applies to soccer,” Scaroni said. “It is not possible to stand still until there is zero infection. Basically we can adopt the German formula that provides that those who are sick go into quarantine while their teammates continue.”
“Maldini father and son are doing well,” he added. “There are players who are improving, but we want to start playing again.”
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