Virgil van Dijk fears coronavirus could see title won in empty stadium
While the fate of this football season remains in the balance, Virgil van Dijk has spoken of his fear that Liverpool’s first title success in three decades will eventually be secured in an empty stadium while fans are excluded because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The season is on hold with action due to restart on 4 April, though such an early resumption is widely considered unlikely. The government is expected to announce imminently a ban on mass gatherings, including sporting events, to come into force next weekend, while the Premier League is to meet on Thursday to discuss their next steps.
“If we won it in an empty stadium and the fans weren’t there, I’d be gutted for them,” said Van Dijk. “Obviously if there are no fans at Anfield then it will be a bit of a blow – no one wants to play games without the fans. Until a decision is made on how we go on from here, then we just have to deal with it. But when it happens we are still bringing the title to our fans, definitely.”
In a worrying precedent as far as Liverpool are concerned, on Sunday – and even though the regular season had concluded with Lulea finishing 14 points clear of second place – the Swedish ice hockey association announced the immediate conclusion of its season in the top three men’s leagues and the women’s SDHL, with no play-offs, no champions, no promotion and no relegation. It is the first time since 1952, when the country’s sportspeople were focusing on the Olympics, that no champion has been crowned.
Elsewhere the Valencia defender Ezequiel Garay became the first player from Spain’s top division to reveal he has tested positive for coronavirus. The 33-year-old, who ruptured a cruciate ligament against Celta Vigo at the start of February, wrote on Instagram: “It is clear that I have got off to the start of 2020 on the wrong foot. I have tested positive for coronavirus. I feel well and now all I can do is listen to the public health authorities and remain in isolation.” Valencia announced Garay was one of five people at the club, across the playing and technical staff, to have tested positive, one of whom it was later confirmed was the former Manchester City defender Eliaquim Mangala.
“They are all at home, in good health, and under isolation measures,” the club wrote. “The club reiterates its support for the authorities in the social distancing campaign for the entire population to stay at home and continue with the hygiene and prevention measures already publicised.”
The Spanish club recently lost a two-legged Champions League last-16 tie against Atalanta, whose home city of Bergamo has been at the centre of the virus’s spread in Italy.
Dominique Blanc, the 70-year-old president of Switzerland’s football association, and Slavisa Kokeza, the 42-yearold head of Serbia’s governing body, announced they each had tested positive for the virus at the weekend. Both attended Uefa’s annual congress in Amsterdam on 3 March.
In Brazil on Sunday,
Grêmio’s players emerged from the dressing room wearing surgical masks before their Gaúcho state championship game against São Luiz, played behind closed doors. “The protest by the players, taking the field wearing masks, makes implicit our support for the championship to be halted. Life must come first,” the club’s director of football, Paulo Luz, said.
League football also continued without fans in Ukraine where the leaders, Shakhtar Donetsk, lost 1-0 at Zorya. “I think we need to take a break,” said Viktor Skrypnyk, the Zorya coach. “Let’s calm down, and then we’ll play enough football together, with the fans. We will enjoy the sport instead of worrying about the events in the world.”
Stuart Broad meanwhile used his column in the Daily Mail to praise the England and Wales Cricket Board for abandoning the tour of Sri Lanka on Friday and bringing the players home; on Sunday Sri Lanka announced they would close their borders to tourists from the UK from Monday night.
Broad wrote: “The NBA was called off, the Melbourne Grand Prix was called off, golf’s Players Championship was called off. Suddenly, it was like ‘wow’. These major worldwide events were being postponed and there was a feeling within our group that we ought to think about where we stood. Thankfully it did not come to that. They made a very tough but necessary decision and credit to them for putting the players and the fans first.”