The match was a biological bomb,” Giorgio Gori told Spanish newspaper Marca, in an interview via Facebook. “At that time we did not know what was happening. The first patient in Italy was on February 23.
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“If the virus was already circulating, the forty thousand fans who went to San Siro were infected. No one knew that the virus was already circulating among us. The virus passed from one person to another
Giorgio stressed, however, that “the match didn’t cause everything”. He said: “The spark was really at the Alzano Lombardo hospital, as a patient with unrecognised pneumonia infected patients, doctors and nurses. That was the focal point of the outbreak.”
Since that first leg, which Atalanta won 4-1, Italy has reported more than 80,000 cases and more than 8000 deaths – and since the return fixture, also won by Atalanta 4-3, Spain has reported more than 50,000 cases and more 4000 deaths.
