Manchester City full-back Joao Cancelo, who was preparing with the Portuguese national team for the Euro 2020 tournament, has now tested positive for COVID-19. Cancelo has been in fine form this season, winning the Premier League and going to the finals of the Champions League.
It is a huge blow for Portugal, but Diogo Dalot is a good young footballer. The AC Milan full-back has been called in to replace Cancelo in the squad, and he is a very promising footballer who can actually grab this opportunity to showcase his talent in international football.
This is the official statement of the Portuguese Federation:
“Diogo Dalot, under 21 national team, will join the national team delegation in Budapest to prepare for his debut at Euro 2020. The AC Milan player will replace João Cancelo, who tested positive for covid-19 following a quick test antigen carried out this Saturday by the Health and Performance Unit of the FPF.”
“The Hungarian health authorities were immediately informed and the player – who is fine – was placed in isolation. The result of the test carried out by the USP was confirmed by an RT test -PCR carried out on João Cancelo also on Saturday and the result of which was known on Sunday morning.”
“In accordance with the covid-19 protocol defined by UEFA before the matches of EURO 2020, on Saturday all players and members of the entourage were subjected to RT-PCR tests.The results, with the exception of João Cancelo, were negative.”
“The Hungarian health authorities have become aware of compliance with the protection procedures, fully respected according to the UEFA protocol, in a group that also has a high rate of vaccination coverage and have authorized the national team to respect the plan stipulated for the European Championship without any changes “.
