June 27, 2021 - It's the news everyone in Croatia has been dreading: Ivan Perišić, one of the most valuable players in the Croatia national football team currently competing at the Euro championship, tested positive for COVID-19 and will be sidelined for a while!
He's definitely not the first player in the UEFA EURO 2020 to suffer the same fate. Less than a week ago, the Scotland team had to play against Croatia without one of their key players, Billy Gilmour. However, this news absolutely changes a lot for the Croatia national team, which has been struggling through the group phase of the competition, and before their match against the favorites Spain in the round of 16.
"We are aware that something like this can happen to any national team and individual. That is why we respect all the measures of the Headquarters from the first day, as well as the UEFA protocol, to prevent the possibility of isolation for a larger number of players. In the context of the new situation, the medical service is doing its best to prevent the possible spread of the virus, as we did successfully during the autumn when we had similar individual cases during the Nations League. This includes antigen testing that confirmed that there are no other infected members of the team. We are sorry that Ivan will not play against Spain, and we wish him that COVID-19 will pass as quickly as possible and with as few symptoms as possible," said the doctor of the national team, Dr. Saša Janković.
Perišić, playing for Inter Milan, is one of those players a team can always count on to bring his zest, many miles, and positive attitude to any game. And, yeah, sometimes he scores, seemingly out of pure spite. He played 104 games for Croatia, scoring 30 goals. The latest two goals he scored at this EURO championship, where he scored against the Czech Republic in a 1:1 draw, and against Scotland, where he added an assist. In the 3 games played so far, he was arguably the best Croatia player at the championships.
Playing against Spain is not easy under any circumstances, and playing against Spain without one of the most important players in the team seems almost impossible. Let's just hope that nobody else tests positive before the game on Monday evening in Copenhagen. Also, the rest of the players in the Croatia national team should find additional motivation to show what they know against the favorites, partially for Perišić as well!
Ivan Perišić will not be able to play before the EURO final, on July 11th at the Wembley Stadium. We're wishing him an uneventful recovery, and returning to football on Wembley on that day, with Croatia in the finals!
To follow the rest of the TCN coverage of the Euro 2020, click here.
