Alejandro Gomez admits Atalanta’s Champions League match against Valencia at San Siro “has something to do” with the coronavirus outbreak in Bergamo.
Around 40,000 Atalanta fans flocked from Bergamo to watch their team thrash Valencia 4-1 in the Champions League Round of 16 last month.
Alejandro Gomez admits Atalanta’s Champions League match against Valencia at San Siro “has something to do” with the coronavirus outbreak in Bergamo.
Around 40,000 Atalanta fans flocked from Bergamo to watch their team thrash Valencia 4-1 in the Champions League Round of 16 last month.
“At the start there was a lot of misinformation, we all took it lightly,” Gomez told Ole.
“We thought it was just another strain of flu and so we continued to lead a normal life.
“When the deaths started, we started to feel afraid. Someone [at San Siro] was infected. We’re all waiting to see if any of us show symptoms.
“Playing those games was terrible. There were no checks in Valencia, everything was relaxed.
“I think the situation in Bergamo today has something to do with the Champions League game at San Siro.
“There are 12,000 inhabitants here and 45,000 were at the stadium that day…”
The club captain then confessed he was still struggling to come to terms with his new reality.
“I find it hard to think about football,” he continued to Sky Sport Italia.
“I try to keep fit and train for 1-2 hours a day, but it’s difficult to maintain concentration. Football’s the last thing I care about.
“I don’t know if we’ll play again [this season], if we do it again in the summer or in a few months, but first of all the country has to get better.
“It’ll be very difficult to play again: how do you organise trips and go to hotels? It’s a big question I ask myself.
“I’m not in the best frame of mind, the situation in the country isn’t the best and we must try to be positive, even if bad news arrives every day.
“There’s nothing else to do but stay home and wait for all this to end. I hope it does soon.
“We’ve made a whole city happy in the last four years, but what we’ve been experiencing lately is something terrible, which I still can’t understand.
“We’re the country with the most infections after China, it’s strange. The people of Bergamo should be happy right now, proud of what its team are doing, but instead we have to focus on something else and think about the families that are suffering.
“I’m with them, they’re strong people who aren’t giving up and this period will come to pass.”