Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo will not play against Barcelona in their Champions League clash on Wednesday as his Covid-19 test has again returned a positive result.
The 35-year-old tested positive for Covid-19 while on international duty with Portugal and has missed three total matches thus far — one with Portugal and two with Juventus.
He will now miss Wednesday’s Group G clash at the Allianz Stadium, which was set to see him renew his rivalry with Barcelona star Lionel Messi, according to Goal.com.
Ronaldo and Messi have not faced off since the Portuguese superstar left Real Madrid for Juventus. Messi, now 33, has featured in four victorious campaigns, all with Barcelona, while Ronaldo has won it five times, four with Real Madrid and once with Manchester United.
Ronaldo has not featured for Juventus since the 2-2 draw against Roma in late-September and his absence is now set to continue.
In order to play in Wednesday’s clash with former La Liga rivals Messi and Barcelona, Ronaldo needed to test negative on Tuesday as protocol states a player must have a negative test 24 hours before kickoff.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid star was tested again ahead of the European encounter.
With a positive result now confirmed, Andrea Pirlo’s boys will have to play without their top goalscorer for the past two seasons.
On the other hand, Italian sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora has said Ronaldo is under investigation for a possible breach of protocol after he flew back to Italy following his positive test result.
In London, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said that new signing Donny van de Beek needed time to settle and would play a big part in the club’s season.
United signed the 23-year-old Dutch midfielder from Ajax Amsterdam for a reported £35 million ($46 million) last month.
Today’s matches
- Krasnodar vs Chelsea
- Istanbul Basaksehir vs PSG
- Sevilla vs Rennes
- Club Brugge vs Lazio
- Dortmund vs Zenit
- Ferencváros vs Dynamo Kyiv
- Juventus vs Barcelona
- Manchester United vs Leipzig
