Atalanta Bergamo coach Gian Piero Gasperini revealed on Sunday that he was on the bench in the Champions League game in and against Valencia in March while he had the corona virus. The 62-year-old Italian felt very ill, although he did not know he was infected.
“I was sick the day before and it only got worse on match day. In the two days after that I barely slept,” Gasperini told La Gazetta dello Sport.
“I didn’t have a fever, but I was broken and thinking about death. When I heard the sirens of the ambulances, I just thought, I don’t want to go to the hospital because I have a lot of work to do.”
The game between Atalanta and Valencia, which was played three weeks before the game in Spain and where the audience was present, is seen as one of the main causes of the spread of the corona virus in Italy. The mayor of the hard-hit Bergamo spoke of “a biological bomb”.
Gasperini later found out that he had been infected and hopes to do something for the city of Bergamo as the football season resumes. “Bergamo’s pain will give us strength. I now feel even more connected to the city.”
Serie A continues on June 20. Atalanta, the club of Marten de Roon and Hans Hateboer, is fourth and, thanks to two victories over Valencia, is also quarter-finalist in the Champions League. It is not yet known what will happen to the European competitions.
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The coronavirus in short
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