Ronaldo headline in Barcelona dressing room warns players of dangers of coronavirus
Barcelona have pinned an AS headline about Cristiano Ronaldo on the wall of the dressing room to warn players to follow coronavirus guidelines.
It’s fair to say that Cristiano Ronaldo is not the most popular figure in the Barcelona dressing room, where, strangely, a headline about the Portuguese star has been spotted pinned to the wall.
Ronaldo was the arch enemy of the club during his Real Madrid days and now serves as a stark warning to Barcelona’s players about the dangers of failing to follow health and safety guidelines related to the coronavirus.
A recent photo taken in the Barcelona dressing room at the club’s Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper training ground facility has revealed the existence of a cut-out of a newspaper headline about the Juventus star, which reads: “Cristiano positive again for covid-19 and will miss Barcelona game.”
Ronaldo missed Barca-Juve game due to covid diagnosis
“The headline that is hung on one of the walls of the dressing room is there so that everyone is aware that even those who take care of themselves the best can also be victims of the pandemic,” says AS spanish edition’s Barcelona correspondent, Javier Miguel.
The headline has, in fact, been taken from an AS spanish edition story back in October (as is clear from the AS logo above the headline) when Cristiano was ruled out of Juventus’ Champions League group stage clash against Barcelona at Camp Nou after testing positive for covid-19. In the absence of Ronaldo, Barcelona went on to win the game 2-0 with goals from Lionel Messi and Ousmane Dembélé.
Understandably frustrated with his diagnosis at the time, Ronaldo posted a comment on Instagram stating: “PCR is bullshit”. The comment was later removed.
Below the Ronaldo headline in the Barca dressing room are other messages reading "the competition is at stake" and "the rules are to be met", aimed as a clear warning to players to follow coronavirus regulations.