THE Glasgow Derby this weekend is likely to be the last game of the season with all other games in Scotland likely to be cancelled. That is news coming from Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
The First Minister told MSPs today that she expects “sharp rise” in coronavirus numbers in Scotland and more community transmissions. Figures will be published at 2pm today. The Scottish Government suggests four UK nations may be move from the containment to the delay phase. Sturgeon will be part of COBRA meeting today.
Her advice is that the time is not right to close schools and universities.
“Our emergency services are likely to suffer from higher than normal sickness absence rates in the weeks and months ahead and our NHS in particular will be under significant pressure. It’s important we protect that resilience as much as possible,” she told MSPs.
“The Health Secretary and I have decided this morning that we are minded that we will advise the cancellation, from the start of next week, of mass gatherings of 500 people or more.”
So the game at Ibrox on Sunday will as things stand, go ahead but the rest of the season is looking like being delayed at least or subject to “Cancellation” to use Nicola Sturgeon’s word.
“We are going to face a significant challenge in the weeks and months to come. There is no getting away from that. A significant number of us are going to get this infection. You cannot make a virus like this simply go away. The challenge, and our responsibility…” she added.
Meanwhile news from Spanish media suggests that UEFA are about to suspend the UCL and Europa League with immediate effect, Football Espana are reporting.
UEFA are imminently set to announce that the Champions League and Europa League will be suspended immediately, report Marca.
It is said that whilst no official announcement has yet been made, it is widely expected within the next few hours that there is a total shutdown across the two competitions.
It throws the world of football into further chaos with a number of matches scheduled to be taking place in the competition on Thursday.
The matches between Sevilla and Roma along with Getafe’s trip to Inter have already been postponed due to the decisions of governments, but UEFA have not yet intervened in individual cases as things stand.
It follows on a busy Thursday morning of coronavirus news with La Liga confirming that all matches have been suspended while a statement from Real Madrid confirmed the club were in quarantine due to a basketball player contacting the virus.
The decision comes after the Spanish FA decided to suspend the next two weeks of non-professional football, with widespread pressure for La Liga to follow suit.
The government recommendation had initially been to play the games behind closed doors but a host of organisations, including the AFE Spanish players union, wanted them postponed.
Revealed – The Celtic Supporters behind the plane over Ibrox | The Celtic Star https://t.co/HOVd7pAhuz
— The Celtic Star Editor (@CelticStarMag) March 11, 2020
When David Murray banned Celtic fans from Ibrox | The Celtic Star https://t.co/wKuowATKLK
— The Celtic Star Editor (@CelticStarMag) March 11, 2020
Boozers, Celtic on the wrong end of Refereeing Controversies and the SFA | The Celtic Star https://t.co/eCDoOWYV83
— The Celtic Star Editor (@CelticStarMag) March 11, 2020
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