Champions League Setback : Will Champions League be disrupted?

Atletico Madrid confirm two positive coronavirus tests ahead of Champions League clash

Spanish football side Atletico Madrid on Sunday reported two positive coronavirus tests, just four days before they face RB Leipzig in Portugal for a place in the Champions League semi-finals."On Saturday, all members of the first team and the club's party to Lisbon underwent tests as required by UEFA protocols to participate in the quarter-finals of the Champions League," said a club statement. "Among the results known today, two positives have appeared and they are self-isolating in their respective homes."Atletico Madrid said UEFA as well as the Spanish and Portuguese football and health authorities have been informed and that a fresh round of tests will be carried out on the squad and support team.

The club did not disclose the names of those infected.It said in a statement that the entire group that was set to go to Lisbon will be tested again before the team can travel, and that the team's schedule is being altered to allow the new tests.

Earlier this week Atletico had to cancel a friendly of their women's team after a positive test within the group. Atletico Madrid is now experiencing the consequences. What remains to be seen is how serious those consequences will be.Isolation, and canceled training sessions, would put them at a competitive disadvantage against RB Leipzig. Business as usual, however, could leave them susceptible to the St. Louis Cardinals or Miami Marlins scenario, where one case quickly became four, and eventually became 20 baseball players and coaches who’d contracted COVID-19. A similar outbreak, of course, would end Atleti’s season.

They will have to test all 93 people in their group again on Monday, which was supposed to be the day they make their way across the border to Lisbon for the concluding stages of Europe’s premier club tournament.It’s possible that Diego Simeone’s side will have to wait for the next batch of results to come back before they are cleared to travel.Should more tests come back positive, it will leave Los Rojiblancos and UEFA with some difficult decisions to make.