Pep Guardiola, 20 Others In Man City Test Positive For COVID-19

English Premier League top club, Manchester City has recorded a major COVID-19 crisis.

Reports made available on Thursday (today) confirmed that the club manager, Pep Guardiola and twenty other first-team members have tested positive for the dreaded disease and are now in isolation.

Guardiola’s assistant, Juanma Lillo also tested positive for the viral disease, Naija News understands.

Seven players of the club are said to be in isolation also ahead of Friday’s FA Cup tie at Swindon Town.

Meanwhile, City is hopeful to see its third-round tie at League Two Swindon to proceed despite the disturbing development.

First-team coach Rodolfo Borrell will take the team down to the County Ground. Man City had confirmed that none of those isolating will be available for Friday’s match.

Naija News understands that the club had earlier revealed that both Phil Foden and Oleksandr Zinchenko had tested positive. The pair are included in the City’s list of seven players.

An official statement by City on Thursday read: “The City manager recorded a positive test on Tuesday along with assistant Juanma Lillo. Both are now isolating, along with a number of other positive cases within the City first team bubble.

“This brings the number of those isolating for Covid related reasons amongst the group to 21. Of that number, 14 are backroom staff with seven first-team players.”

“Assistant coach Rodolfo Borrell will take charge of the team for the trip to Swindon.”

Naija News reports that City’s rival, Liverpool had announced the temporary shutting down of its training ground on Tuesday after a recent surge in cases of Coronavirus at the club.

The English Premier League club revealed in an official statement on Wednesday that after multiple new coronavirus cases including a positive test result for assistant manager Pep Lijnders, the club had to close down its training centre till further notice.

The development means Liverpool’s FA Cup third round against Shrewsbury and League Cup semi-final against Arsenal is not feasible on the scheduled dates.