The Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, has donated €1m towards providing medical equipment for the fight against the coronavirus in his home country Spain.
The former Barcelona player and manager made the donation to a campaign launched by the Angel Soler Daniel Foundation and Medical College of Barcelona.
“The campaign aims to collect medical materials and financial contributions from collegiate doctors and the general population, for the purchase of medical equipment and equipment that is currently lacking in health centres in Catalonia,” said a statement from the college.
“It will also help finance the alternative production, through 3D printing and other methods, of respirators and personal protection equipment for healthcare staff.”
Before Guardiola made his contribution, the campaign had raised €33,000 in three days. Spain is the country worst affected by the disease in Europe outside Italy, with 2,696 deaths and almost 40,000 positive cases. The region of Catalonia, where Guardiola is from, is one of the worst-affected parts of the country.
Meanwhile the Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Sportiello has tested positive for coronavirus, taking the number of confirmed cases among players in Serie A to 15.
Italy is Europe’s worst-affected country and the national death toll rose to 6,820 on Tuesday, the largest in the world. The province of Bergamo is the worst hit in the country, with 6,728 confirmed cases.
Mayor Giorgio Gori said the Champions League match between Atalanta and Valencia at the San Siro stadium in Milan on 19 February, attended by around 40,000 fans, may have contributed to the spread of the virus in the nearby city of Bergamo.
“It was crowded in the stadium and then afterwards in the bars,” the Bergamo mayor told reporters. “For sure, that night there was a strong escalation of contagion between people.”
Sportiello was among the substitutes that night, while the Spanish La Liga club Valencia last week said that more than a third of their players and coaching staff had tested positive for the virus since their trip to Italy.
