Corona worries are getting bigger and bigger at the Spanish soccer record champions Real Madrid. Now long-time Munich-based David Alaba and Isco have also tested positive for the virus, as the club announced. Recently Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Marco Asensio, Rodrygo, Marcelo and Andrej Lunin were absent because of a positive test. Real coach Carlo Ancelotti will have to do without the yellow-banned Casemiro in the away game against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday. This weakens the midfield in the team around the former international Toni Kroos.
Modric and the other infected people are unlikely to be back in the squad because of the stricter Corona requirements in the Basque Country, wrote the Spanish sports newspaper As on Tuesday. In the Basque Country, with a seven-day incidence of 639, everyone must be in self-isolation for ten days from the onset of symptoms. Unlike in Madrid, this also applies if the PCR tests turn out negative in the meantime. At Modric, the ten-day self-isolation does not end until Thursday. On Sunday, relegation candidate Cádiz ended Real’s winning streak with a draw. The game against the bottom of the table Bilbao will be “very difficult”, Ancelotti admitted. Real lead the table of the Primera División with six points ahead of Sevilla FC, who however have one game less. The first game after the turn of the year is already on the program for Real on January 2nd. Then it’s off to Getafe FC.