Football under threat from coronavirus: Newcastle United bans players from shaking hands as string of Italian matches are held behind closed doorsÂ
A Premier League team has banned players from shaking hands and matches could be played in empty stadiums as coronavirus threatens to disrupt British football for the rest of the season, it was revealed today.
Millions of supporters travel the length of the UK to follow their team but some are expected to wear masks at matches this weekend or choose may not to travel as the number of cases grew to 19 today – including six in the past 24 hours.
Newcastle United has a daily tradition where players and staff greet one another with a handshake every morning but manager Steve Bruce admitted today: ‘We’ve stopped that on the advice of the doctor’.
And as Switzerland today banned all events involving more than 1,000 people, Mr Bruce said: ‘We’re glued to the TV and let us hope it doesn’t get any worse in this country.’
Today Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted he is ‘worried’ about being drawn against Inter Milan in the Europa League – after the northern Italian team found itself on the edge of the country’s coronavirus crisis zone.
Inter played their match in an empty San Siro stadium last night to avoid up to 80,000 supporters turning up and spreading the illness that has claimed 2,550 lives worldwide so far – including 17 in Italy in a week.
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