European football hit by coronavirus: Roma, Getafe ‘will not travel’ for fixtures

European football has been hit badly by the deadly coronavirus as several matches are to be played behind closed doors while others may not hold at all.

Spanish club, Getafe say they will not travel to Milan for Thursday’s Europa League match against Inter.

The club president Angel Torres insisted that they will not take the risk even if it means losing the tie.

“The Spanish government, which is what we have to follow, has banned return flights between Spain and Italy,” added the Getafe president on Onda Cero radio.

“The Italian government has banned its own competition out of fear of further spread of the disease. If we were to put ourselves in the firing line by playing there, it would be a contradiction that doesn’t make any sense.”

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Italy has the most cases outside China with more than 10,000 and the entire country has been placed in lockdown.

And the region of Lombardy, where Milan is located, is at the epicentre of Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak.

Meanwhile, Serie A club Roma also say they will not be travelling to their Europa League tie with Sevilla because their plane from Italy is not authorised to land in Spain.

Both the Getafe game and the Roma clash were already due to be played behind closed doors amid coronavirus fears, but as it stands, they may have to be postponed by Uefa.

Earlier on Wednesday, the English Premier League had its first postponed game due to the disease as Manchester City vs Arsenal will not hold as planned.

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