Valencia vs Atalanta Becomes First Champions League Tie to Be Hit by Coronavirus

​UEFA have confirmed that Atalanta’s Champions League trip to Valencia next week and Inter’s Europa League clash with Getafe will both be played behind closed doors, as part of an effort to prevent the further spread of coronavirus.

Inter played their last Europa League game without spectators at San Siro last month, while all Serie A games have already been ordered to be played in empty stadiums until early April.

Northern Italy has been the worst affected part of Europe and minimising large gatherings of people in that region, or negating the need for people from that region to travel abroad – in the case of the Atalanta supporters – will combat the spread of the illness.

UEFA have additionally confirmed that Youth League games taking place in Italy next week are also to be played behind closed doors.

The Italian capital Rome has not been hit with coronavirus like Milan or other places in the north, where most of the country’s cases have been confirmed. As such, Roma’s Europa League trip to Sevilla on Thursday is not currently affected and will be played in an open stadium as normal.

Back home in the city, however, the upcoming 2020 Rome marathon has been cancelled.

Italy has already had Six Nations rugby matches postponed, with this weekend’s scheduled clash with Ireland in Dublin called off and the following weekend’s home game against England also hit.

In England, the Premier League is beginning to take preventative measures by halting the usual pre-match handshakes to minimise hand to hand contact between players and officials.

There are no plans as yet for the Premier League to follow Italy’s example and order all games to be played behind closed doors, but Everton chief financial officer Sasha Ryazantsev has described that as a ‘likely’ scenario, albeit an unwanted and enforced one.

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