Barcelona players Ferran Torres and Pedri tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday, the latest cases confirmed by the club after an outbreak at the La Liga side.
“The first team players Pedri and Ferran Torres have tested positive for Covid-19. The players are in good health and self-isolating at home. The club has reported the cases to the relevant authorities,” Barcelona said on their website.
The Catalans beat Mallorca 1-0 in the league on Sunday in a match where they were missing 14 players, eight of them due to Covid-19: Sergino Dest, Philippe Coutinho, Ez Abde, Jordi Alba, Alex Balde, Ousmane Dembele, Gavi and Dani Alves.
Samuel Umtiti and Clement Lenglet also tested positive during the week but were cleared after their latest test came back negative on Sunday. Barcelona, who presented Torres as a player on Monday, have not been able to register him yet.
Barcelona director of football Mateu Alemany said the club knew there was no room for Torres in the squad “in terms of salaries” when he was bought last week from Manchester City for an initial fee of 55 million euros ($62.2 million).
Ocampos on target
Sevilla cut into Real Madrid’s lead after winning 1-0 at Cádiz while Oihan Sancet scored a hat-trick for Athletic Bilbao in a 3-1 victory over Osasuna.
Lucas Ocampos’ second-half goal helped pull Sevilla to within five points of the front-runner with a game in hand. Real gave Sevilla the chance to tighten the title race after Carlo Ancelotti’s side lost at Getafe on Sunday.