Sevilla suspend training after player tests positive for COVID-19

Madrid, July 29, 2020 (AFP) - A member of Sevilla's first-team squad has tested positive for COVID-19, the club said Wednesday while announcing it was suspending training pending the result of further tests.

The Spanish side are due to face Roma in Germany next week in a single-leg fixture in the last 16 of the Europa League.

Sevilla said the case was discovered following tests conducted by the club on Sunday, and the player concerned is "asymptomatic, in good health and is isolated at home".

In a statement, Sevilla added they had "temporarily suspended the team's training sessions and carried out disinfection tasks in the facilities".

The club has carried out two further rounds of tests on the rest of the squad and staff following the initial case.

"In the first one, all the tests carried out have been negative. The results of the second tests, which have been carried out today, will be known this Thursday morning," Sevilla said.

The team plans to return to training on Thursday with individual sessions if all results from the second batch of tests come back negative.

The latter stages of the Europa League will be completed with a straight knockout mini-tournament in Germany, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The competition was suspended in March.

The final will be played in Cologne on August 21. The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be played as one-off ties with Cologne, Duisburg, Duesseldorf and Gelsenkirchen all hosting games.

Before that, all last-16 ties must be completed. Only six of the eight first-leg matches were played in March. The other two ties -- Inter v Getafe and Sevilla v Roma -- will be decided as one-off matches on neutral ground in Germany.