Inter’s detractors might want to think twice before arguing they are lucky to be top of Serie A.
The Nerazzurri have suffered their second COVID-19 outbreak of the season this week, with Stefan de Vrij and Matias Vecino joining Danilo D’Ambrosio and Samir Handanovic today in returning positive tests.
As highlighted by Radio Nerazzurra’s director Lapo De Carlo on Twitter, Inter have now had 14 players test positive for the virus since the start of this season.
This makes Antonio Conte’s side the second-worst affected team in Serie A, and despite this Inter have played every single match as scheduled so far.
Saturday’s fixture at home to Sassuolo has become Inter’s first league match to be postponed, after Milan’s local health authority reacted swiftly to news of De Vrij and Vecino’s positive tests.
Inter confirmed in a statement earlier that they had been ordered to suspend all first-team activity up to and including Sunday, while their players were forbidden from joining up with their national teams next week.
Alessandro Bastoni, Radja Nainggolan, Milan Skriniar, Roberto Gagliardini, Andrei Radu, Ashley Young, Marcelo Brozovic, Daniele Padelli, Aleksandar Kolarov and Achraf Hakimi all tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this season.
Hakimi’s test subsequently turned out to be a false positive, but the Moroccan was nonetheless forced to miss Inter’s UEFA Champions League group stage opener at home to Borussia Monchengladbach in October.