Brescia captain says team opposes return of Italian soccer: 'We're afraid'
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Brescia captain Daniele Gastaldello says he and the rest of the squad are opposed to returning to the pitch while Italy, and the Lombardy region in particular, deals with the devastating effects of the coronavirus.
"In Brescia we've all been touched," Gastaldello told Italian daily La Repubblica, according to AP News. "We all know someone who has been directly hit by the tragedy. We've realized how little it takes to ruin a family."
Italy has suffered almost 30,000 deaths related to COVID-19, and almost half of those fatalities occurred in Lombardy. However, while the country reels from the crisis, and coronavirus cases continue to be identified at clubs, Serie A administrators and other senior sporting figures are targeting dates to resume the 2019-20 season.
On Monday, Sassuolo became the first top-flight club to hold individual training sessions since soccer was suspended in the country on March 10, and other clubs soon followed suit. Group workouts in anticipation of Serie A's return are allowed to commence on May 18.
Brescia are one of the few clubs yet to reconvene at their training ground.
"We don't feel safe. They're asking us to resume training and to get back out onto the field right away, concentrating 12 matches in one-and-a-half months. It's putting all of the players' safety on the line," Gastaldello said.
"I'm speaking for me and for my teammates. If the price of resuming is us getting seriously injured, it's not worth it anymore … We're afraid."
League administrators across Europe have explored the idea of isolating players away from their families while they conclude the 2019-20 campaign at neutral venues. Gastaldello is unsettled by the prospect and suggested more consideration was required for footballers' lives away from the game.
"It doesn't make sense. It's against nature," he shared. "We're professionals but we're also human beings. We have wives and children."
Germany's Bundesliga is set to become the first major European league to restart its 2019-20 term. The competition will resume behind closed doors on May 16 and is expected to finish by the end of June. France's Ligue 1 and the Netherlands' Eredivisie, meanwhile, have already canceled their respective seasons.