The front pages of Spain’s newspapers were all covered with the same story this morning: La Liga players returning to their respective training grounds for coronavirus testing.
The bizarre sight of an enmasked Sergio Ramos chatting with Zinedine Zidane at a socially distant distance at Valdebebas was on the front of Marca, while Leo Messi’s brow was furrowed above his own high quality mouth cover on Mundo Deportivo’s portada.
It’s a hopeful, if utterly bizarre, sight. Their gathering for the first time in weeks, to underdo testing for the virus, is undeniably the first step towards a return to playing again.
The only question is how long the road is. There are still serious concerns among players, as voiced by Eibar’s squad yesterday, that it’s not safe, or perhaps not right to return.
But there is momentum now, and with the government appearing to hold their hands up and let the league do as they wish it’s increasingly down to the players to decide how far this goes.
It’s reported that La Liga expect 30 of the 2,000 tests being carried out to return positive. Results could take some days, and the nation is holding its breath.
