ENGLAND FALL FOUL OF CORONAVIRUS LOTTERY

IT USED to be the penalty shoot-out lottery that did for England at major tournaments – now it is the coronavirus lottery they have to contend with.

The viral finger of fate was always going to point at one team or another in a Covid-era Euros and it probably should come as no surprise that one of them is England.

Gareth Southgate manages one of the few international teams to go all season without a positive test. His side’s number was bound to come up at some point. It just had to be at the Euros themselves though, didn’t it?

He will have wargamed this scenario and he took a sanguine take on the situation last night, but it remains an unwanted complication.

For Scotland, the loss of Billy Gilmour after his positive test is a crying shame.

The 20-year-old was terrific against England and will be sorely missed against Croatia. There must also be huge concern in the camp ahead of today’s testing given the team shared a Wembley dressing room with him.

For England, their 100 percent negative test record remains intact. To be nobbled by the close contacts smallprint feels unfair but, by now, everyone in football knows the rules of the Covid game.

The virus can take its time before showing up and it is every team’s responsibility not to risk spreading it. Were Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell naive in fraternising so closely with their Chelsea team-mate after the Scotland game?

It is easy to be wise after the event. But England and Scotland are far from the only teams at this tournament to have mingled after the final whistle.

Unless there is some breach we are unaware of, Gilmour just got unlucky and Mason and Chilwell with it. Such is the lottery of sport in Covid times.