Juventus's Dybala tests positive for coronavirus

Juventus' Paulo Dybala is the latest high profile player to test positive for the coronavirus, the club announced. Photo: Laurent Cipriani/AP

Juventus' Paulo Dybala is the latest high profile player to test positive for the coronavirus, the club announced. Photo: Laurent Cipriani/AP

Published Mar 21, 2020

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TURIN – Juventus and Argentina soccer forward Paulo Dybala has tested positive for coronavirus but has no symptoms, the Italian Serie A club said on Saturday, making him one of the most high-profile players to be infected so far.

"The player, in voluntary home isolation since March 11, will continue to be monitored," the Turin club said in a statement. "He is well and asymptomatic."

He is the third player at the club, one of the biggest in Europa and Italy's most successful in domestic terms, to test positive after midfielder Blaise Matuidi, a World Cup winner with France in 2018, and defender Daniele Rugani.

Italy is Europe's worst-affected country by the coronavirus and the death toll has leapt by 793 to 4,825, officials said on Saturday.

Around a dozen Serie A players have been reported as testing positive with Sampdoria and Fiorentina the other clubs affected.

%%%twitter https://twitter.com/PauDybala_JR?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PauDybala_JR! 💪 #DistantiMaUniti https://t.co/tCWaQBGbtH

— JuventusFC (@juventusfc)

The 26-year-old, nicknamed 'the Jewel', joined Juventus from Palermo in 2015 and has won a Serie A title in each of his seasons at the club. He has played 29 times for Argentina.

Dybala said on Instagram that his fiance had also tested positive. "Luckily, we are in perfect condition," he said. (Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Christian Radnedge)

On Saturday, Espanyol announced that Chinese international Wu Lei also tested positive for the virus.

"Dear fans, as you might already know I indeed have got the virus," said the striker, who joined the Spanish club last January from Chinese Super League side Shanghai SIPG.

"Now I'm at home in self-quarantine. Mentally, I'm very well and my symptoms have almost all gone," he added in a video on Weibo.

"My lungs have been checked, including with a CT scan and it showed that the situation has turned out very well.

"I believe we will defeat this virus and I can't wait to be back playing matches."

Wu is the first player from China to have contracted COVID-19, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

Reuters

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