Spain players vaccinated ahead of Euro 2020
Spain will open their Euro campaign against Sweden on Monday
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Spain’s players have received the Covid vaccine ahead of their Euro opener against Sweden on Monday.
The team’s preparation for the tournament was thrown into disarray as they were hit by Covid cases.
Captain Sergio Busquets and Diego Llorente have tested positive and are currently in isolation.
As a result group training was suspended and the country’s U21 squad played one of their warm-up matches, beating Lithuania 4-0.
After several discussions, the vaccines were announced by the Spanish FA who said they would go ahead on Friday.
They said in a statement: “The purpose of this vaccination is to make it easier for Spain to play Euro 2020 with full security guarantees in addition to allowing the national team to compete on equal terms with other participating teams that have already been immunised.
“The vaccination will take place this Friday in the Ciudad del Futbol of Las Rozas by the armed forces and will begin at 10 a.m.
“The national team will be vaccinated by supplying different vaccines depending on the situation of each member.”
It’s understood the vaccines, supplied by army hospital Gomez Ulla in Madrid, given to players do not require a second dose.
And manager Luis Enrique has spoken on the issue saying he would have wanted the players to have it sooner.
He said: “I’d have liked it done when the squad was announced, but that was not possible.
“I would be pretty annoyed not to be able to count on a player because of side effects (to vaccine).”
It isn’t just Spain who have been affected by Covid cases as Scotland and Sweden have had positive cases in their teams.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments