I’m living in a nightmare..we played behind closed doors but that wasn’t great..now we’re locked in a ghost city where people are dying..it’s heartbreaking.. DEVASTATING

BOURNEMOUTH GOALKEEPER ASMIR BEGOVIC REVEALS THE MISERY AND WORRY OF LIFE IN VIRUS-HIT MILAN

THE streets are completely empty, the city is in lockdown and Milan looks like the scene from a horror movie.

It’s a nightmare picture painted of what is happening in Italy and what could quickly follow in the UK too as the coronavirus continues to take grip on everyday life.

Bournemouth goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, 32, is caught in the middle of it on loan at AC Milan.

Milan is in the worst-affected region of the worst-affected country in Europe, the continental epicentre of the global pandemic.

Football, along with pretty much everything else, has been shut down.

“It’s a total lockdown,” said Begovic from his home in the heart of the city. “The streets are deserted. The only thing open are supermarkets. You can get a little bit of food and then it’s straight back home.

“People have said it’s like a movie scene and it really is. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m not sure people understand how bad it is here.

“It’s hit Italy very hard. What the reason is for that I don’t know – maybe the medicine side of things.

“You feel for the country, with a lot of deaths and people being infected. It’s devastating and heartbreaking for the people.

“Now you see other clubs, fellow players, getting it and it feels like a nightmare.”

Football is like a religion in Milan. And, while it is an afterthought when countless lives are at stake, the whole of the sport has been shut down and by yesterday seven players from Serie A had tested positive for the virus.

No one has tested positive at AC Milan but Begovic revealed how quickly things escalated. He said: “It was literally happening daily, things developed so quickly from games being on, to games behind closed doors and then games are off.

“There was a debate as to whether we should play at all. We played behind closed doors, which wasn’t a great experience at all.

“Then the next day we were in, then we were off and then everything was shut down. It happened so quickly. This week has been the climax. Then you’re in lockdown.

“No restaurants are open after 6pm and now everything’s closed.

“We’re not training now. We’re not due back until the 23rd but that looks as if it might get changed and extended. They’ve sent us away and said: ‘We’ll see you when we

see you.’

Those are the measures that people have to take, they are the orders and we obey.”

After a frustrating couple of years at Bournemouth, Begovic admitted he had “rekindled his fire and love” of the game, first at Qarabag in Azerbaijan and now back at the top with AC Milan.

He also believes football must have a strong voice to help society when the health crisis allows.

“Sport has such a power in our world. It can really bring people together,” he said. “In difficult times like this, football can really use its power to have a really positive spin. It can bring the joy back to people. They love football and it’s a really good way of being able to use that power and strength in a really positive way.”