For all football lovers, the unprecedented knockout stages of the Champions League between Atalanta and Valencia were a real moment of happiness. Many are indeed those who, on this occasion, discovered with pleasure the spectacular and effective game of this atypical Italian team where the Swiss Remo Freuler plays. This Tuesday, February 19, the revelation of this European season had also swept Valencia (4-1) and delighted spectators.
A historic meeting for all the Bergamo supporters, who had been some 43,000 to have moved to Milan, at the San Siro stadium (the Bergamo stadium is not approved for such meetings). And nobody imagined of course then that it would remain forever in all memories for reasons other than strictly sporting. Because the question that the Italian civil protection and many doctors are asking today is cold in the back: what if the express spread of the virus was simply due to this meeting?
Supporters mixed
Several eminent specialists indeed believe that this match could well be one of the major causes of the chaos which currently reigns in Bergamo. “I have heard a lot of theories (note: about the faster spread of the virus in the Italian city than elsewhere), here is mine, replied Fabiano Di Marco, head of the pulmonology department at the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo, at the “Corriere della Sera”. On February 19, more than 40,000 Bergamasques joined San Siro to attend the Atalanta – Valencia match. By bus, train, car. Atalanta – Valencia was a biological bomb. “
In question: the promiscuity between supporters in a crowded Milan metro, in the stands, around food-trucks. And not only between supporters of the same club, according to a journalist present that evening. While this round of 16 had been placed at high risk by UEFA, the meeting in the metro, then in front of the stadium, between supporters of the two camps quickly turned into a friendly meeting where we exchanged beers and braces. Among the approximately 2,500 Spanish sympathizers, some were most likely already carrying a virus which was then already very present in the Valencia region, as proved by autopsies made a fortnight later.
Not to mention only the fans, since the Spanish journalist Kike Mateu, suffering from coronavirus, was also in San Siro, where he rubbed shoulders with his colleagues in the corridors of the stadium and in the press room. A virus that was already circulating among players as well. If Ezequiel Garay (first player infected in La Liga) was not on the trip to Italy, almost 35% of the workforce in Valencia is infected today. This is already a lot of coincidences.
Multiple triggers
A doctor at Umberto I Hospital in Rome, Francesco Le Foche does not dismiss this hypothesis either. “There were probably several triggers and catalysts to explain the spread of the virus,” he explains to “Corriere dello Sport”. The Atalanta – Valencia match could very well have been one of them. It was the highlight of the collective euphoria in a single football season for this club. A month has passed since this match, the timing is therefore relevant. The gathering of thousands of people, a few centimeters from each other, indulging in manifestations of euphoria such as hugging or shouting, all this could have favored the spread of the virus. ”
André Boschetti
Created: 23.03.2020, 3:00 p.m.
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