VALENCIA • Valencia have hit out at Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini for taking charge of his Serie A side's Champions League last-16, second-leg match against the Spanish La Liga team in March despite suffering from coronavirus symptoms.
The 62-year-old told Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport on Sunday that he felt ill on the day before the game at Valencia on March 10, which was played without spectators as northern Italy was then the epicentre of the virus in Europe.
He said: "I was scared. The day before the game I was sick, and the afternoon of the game I felt worse. I slept badly the next two nights.
"If you look at the pictures, I did not look good on the bench. I didn't have a fever, but I felt like I did."
Atalanta went on to win 4-3 for an aggregate victory of 8-4, marking their first appearance in the last eight of the Champions League.
But Gasperini could not celebrate as he lost his sense of taste and smell - a tell-tale sign of Covid-19 - just days later, which meant his Michelin-starred meal and champagne tasted like "bread and water". He later underwent a three-week self-isolation period at Atalanta's training ground.
While he did not undergo a swab test then, serological tests taken 10 days ago proved he had tested positive for Covid-19.
Valencia later issued a statement saying they were surprised at Gasperini's admission that he had symptoms and yet did not take preventative measures.
"Such actions, if this was the case, would have put at risk numerous people during the trip to - and stay in - Valencia," they said.
A week after the match, Valencia announced that 35 per cent of their squad and staff had tested positive for Covid-19.
The Feb 19 first leg between the two sides at the San Siro in Milan, attended by more than 40,000 fans, is regarded as ground zero for the explosion of cases in Spain and Italy, with Bergamo Mayor Giorgio Gori describing the match as a "biological bomb".
The Atalanta-Valencia game is not the only fixture that has stirred controversy over links to Covid-19 infections.
Forty-one deaths on Merseyside have been attributed to the second leg of Liverpool's last-16 Champions League match with Atletico Madrid on March 11, as away fans were allowed to travel to Anfield despite the Spanish capital having already been pinpointed as a virus hot spot.
The second leg of Arsenal's last-32 Europa League encounter with Olympiakos also saw manager Mikel Arteta infected with Covid-19 after the Greek outfit's owner, Evangelos Marinakis, greeted players and staff despite having the disease.
Italy has the third-highest coronavirus death toll in the world, with over 33,000 deaths, while over 27,000 lives have been lost in Spain due to the virus.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
