Still unexplained
The hunt for the origins of Covid-19 has for the past four years been a tangled web of politics, power struggles, and international finger-pointing.
Barcelona coach Quique Setien on Sunday admitted that he would ideally like to have more time to work with his squad ahead of the restart of the Spanish La Liga next week.
League leaders Barce play the first of their 11 remaining matches away to Real Mallorca in six days’ time, after only 11 days of training with the entire squad.
The return to training after the coronavirus enforced break has seen squad members suffer several injury scared with the likes of Lionel Messi, Samuel Umititi, Ansu Fati and Nelson Semedo all suffering muscle injuries of varying seriousness since returning to training.
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Setien admitted that although the players were motivated after a three-month lay-off owing to the coronavirus pandemic, “we needed an extra week to really be in shape.”
He also highlighted that the lack of friendly games before the resumption of football would make things different as “the usual thing in pre-season is to play games and to spread the minutes around the squad, but now that is going to be different.”
“We are in good mental shape, so we will see how the games go and also in the condition our rivals are,” added Setien.
“Everyone is going to miss the stimulus of having the public supporting them as they are important, but it is a special situation and we will try to make the best of it, because it will be the same for everyone,” he concluded.
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