Rabat – Spanish football club FC Barcelona announced on Friday, August 14, that first-team player, Samuel Umtiti tested positive for COVID-19.
FC Barcelona said that Umtiti, who is now isolating at home, is asymptomatic and in good health.
The 26-year-old player and 2018 World Cup champion with France is one of FC Barcelona’s most prominent defenders.
After the Spanish club received Umtiti’s test results, it informed health authorities, as well as people who had made contact with him, in order to undergo COVID-19 tests.
Due to his infection, as well as a knee injury, Umtiti did not appear in the Estadio da Luz, Lisbon, when his teammates faced Germany’s FC Bayern Munich. The game, counting for the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, ended in an unprecedented 8-2 loss for the Spanish team.
The announcement of Umtiti’s infection came a few days after the Catalan club announced that another player had tested positive for COVID-19.
Read also: FC Barcelona Confirms Player Has Tested Positive COVID-19
FC Barcelona made the announcement on August 12, without revealing the player’s identity. The club discovered the player’s infection after testing nine players, including Pedri, Francisco Trincao, Matheus Fernandes, Jean-Clair Todibo, Moussa Wague, Carles Alena, Raphael Rafinha, Juan Miranda, and Oriol Busquets.
Rumors about the infection of players and staff at FC Barcelona have been circulating since June when Catalan radio station RAC1 reported that five members from the club have tested positive for COVID-19. However, the Spanish giant did not confirm nor deny the reports.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, several famous football figures caught the virus and then recovered. The list includes Italy’s former defender Paolo Maldini, Argentinian forward Paulo Dybala, Moroccan-Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini, and Spanish coach Mikel Arteta.
