Independiente del Valle not only has a front in each of the three different rival teams that it faces every eight days, but also in the coronavirus. The black and blue club challenges Liga de Quito today, the recent winner of the first round of LigaPro, with fifteen players reported to be infected with the COVID-19 virus.
After the 3-2 defeat against Mushuc Runa at the start of the second stage, last Wednesday, the Sangolquí institution reported that since the 5-0 victory against Flamengo in the Copa Libertadores (September 17), until Thursday October 15, their Medical Department has detected 22 positive cases of COVID-19, 15 of them in players and 7 in members of the club's delegation.
Independiente detailed the chronology of the infections after the match against the Brazilians and until October 8, when it made a cut, and it summarized that "almost all cases were asymptomatic or with mild symptoms".
The medical staff of the institution noted that after the victory against Fla, tests were carried out on September 18 before the trip to Barranquilla, where they faced Junior, "with negative results for our entire delegation".
"Taking into account the window period, care was intensified and it was decided to repeat the tests six days after the possible contact. Since then, seven PCR tests and quantitative antibody tests have been carried out approximately every 72 hours, proceeding to isolate the positive cases when receiving the results," they said.
In this sense, the Medical Department of the current champion of the Copa Sudamericana states that the first player infected with COVID-19 was detected on September 23, four others tested positive on the 26th, one more case on the 28th; in addition, two players reported symptoms "despite a negative result (PCR)", after which "one of them tested positive four days later," that is, on October 2.
In the report published on social media, it is added that on October 1, a positive case of a player was detected and on the 2nd there were no new cases before the match against Orense in Machala (played on October 3), for which LigaPro carried out rapid tests.
Four other players and two members of the technical team tested positive later, shortly before the cases of two more players and three other staff members, and one player last in the LigaPro controls. New tests were scheduled for yesterday.
DT Ramírez complains
The coach of Independiente, the Spanish Miguel Ángel Ramírez, expressed his discomfort and said that both LigaPro and Conmebol "want to keep playing their tournaments at any cost." He said this after the defeat against Mushuc Runa, the first defeat of the Sangolquí team in the domestic championship since last March.
Possible line-ups
Independiente: Ramírez, L. Ortiz, Loor, Pacho, Caicedo, Pellerano, Mera, Rivero, Guerrero, C. Ortiz, Leiton. DT: Miguel Ramírez.
Liga de Quito: Gabbarini, Perlaza, Guerra, Corozo, Cruz, Quintero, Villarruel, Alcívar, Muñoz, Sornoza, Borja. DT: Pablo Repetto.
Referee: Marlon Vera.
Time: 17:00
(D)