Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic has claimed he saw a lockdown due to coronavirus coming during the Catalans’ trip to Italy last month.
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Spain has been completely shutdown with people confined to their houses because of the pandemic and the nation has suffered 1720 virus-related deaths including 394 in the past 24 hours.
LaLiga was suspended for two weeks on March 12 and a “state of alarm” declared by the Spanish government the following day, with citizens told to stay at home amid the threat posed by COVID-19.
Currently, in self-isolation, Ivan Rakitic spoke to Barcelona TV where he admitted that he saw a mass lockdown coming after his visit to Naples last month.
“It hasn’t been a surprise. When we went to Naples (in the Champions League last month), people were talking about it a lot in Italy and I said to Xavi (the team doctor) that this would get worse,” Rakitic told Barca TV in an interview from his home.
“Now it’s the best thing we can do. I would like to go out on the street and walk about, but it’s not necessary. We have to be indoors. I don’t like it, but it’s necessary and important.”
More 5400 people have died in Italy because of the virus, with nearly 60,000 cases spread throughout the country.
With the lockdown officially in place, the fate of LaLiga and the major football leagues across Europe have been thrown into serious doubt, but Rakitic insisted that right now the prime focus has to be dealing with the outbreak as he stated ‘Being indoors is necessary and important’.
