Neymar tests positive for COVID-19

The Brazilian striker is the third PSG player to test positive.

Less than two weeks after Paris Saint-Germain’s 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich in UEFA’s Champions League Final, three members of the first team have tested positive for COVID-19. According to l’Equipe, Angel di Maria, Leandro Paredes, and Neymar have all tested positive. They are still waiting on test results for Brazilian defender Marquinhos.

All four players in question decided to visit the Spanish island Ibiza after their Champions League defeat. Many outlets are suggesting this is where they contracted the virus.

PSG says that all their players and staff will be tested in the coming days, and that the three players who have tested positive will be quarantined. It isn’t clear how this could impact their games in France’s Ligue 1, which resumed play over two weeks ago.

COVID-19: How many infections have there been in European soccer?

Unlike American sports, European soccer leagues have largely been able to avoid coronavirus outbreaks. Atletico Madrid had a small group of players on both their men’s and women’s teams test positive in early August. There have been other scattered individual positive tests, but nothing on the scale of what we saw on American sports teams like the Miami Marlins in MLB or FC Dallas in MLS.

The lack of outbreaks can be traced to a combination of strict safety protocols and a better response from European governments, which created safer communities for teams to play in. When UEFA resumed both Europa and Champions League in early August, they put rigorous health protocols in place that governed virtually every aspect of players’ time in Portugal. Players were tested before they left for Lisbon, upon their arrival in Lisbon, and once before every gameday. All Champions League games were played in Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal, while the Europa games were spread across four stadiums in northern Germany.