The Girondins really didn’t need that. Stuck in a difficult season (17th in Ligue 1 and worst defense in the championship), the Navy and White have been affected for a few weeks by the Covid-19. In all, 21 players were infected. Despite this important focus and a request for postponement formulated by the leaders, the match against Olympique de Marseille, on behalf of the 20th day of Ligue 1, is well maintained on Friday January 7 (9 p.m.). This decision can challenge, especially as three matches scheduled for this weekend (Angers-Saint-Etienne, Lille-Lorient and Montpellier-Troyes) have been postponed.
The protocol put in place by the Professional Football League is clear: each club must have at least 20 capable players, including a goalkeeper, on its official list of 30 registered. Therefore, 11 cases of Covid-19 “are enough” to obtain the postponement of a match.
However, according to the results of the latest PCR tests on Thursday evening, Bordeaux has “only” nine contaminated players. The 21 cases were in fact spread over three weeks, and several players infected at the end of December, especially before the match against Lille, are now negative. Others are still positive, but resumed training on Wednesday after seven days of isolation because they have a full vaccination schedule. They are therefore no longer counted by the League. And this, even if, like Rémi Oudin, the test remains positive and the symptoms persist …
In the strict application of the texts, there is therefore no reason to postpone the meeting. But the Girondins still have it bad and are particularly penalized by the new protocol. A possible package was even mentioned Thursday, which would be unprecedented since the start of the pandemic in France.
Admar Lopes: “I think it’s a lack of respect for the club” #FCGBOM pic.twitter.com/Hdi6sLiU55
– FC Girondins de Bordeaux (@girondins) January 6, 2022
“A few players told me this week that they didn’t feel like playing the game”, railed Admar Lopes, the technical director of the club, in a press conference on Thursday. What, indeed, of the physical form for these players having only one or two sessions in the legs?
In an interview with The team, the club doctor Thierry Delmeule sounded the alarm: “If you have four or five players who are fit, according to protocol, but they are not able to do two rounds of the pitch, for me, they are not suitable.” And the specialist to point out the risks of myocarditis for the players concerned.
“There, we are talking about Covid but even after a gastro, you cannot be operational two days later to play football.”
Thierry Delmeule, doctor of the Girondins de BordeauxThe team
In this Covid episode, the people of Bordeaux are playing bad luck. At the height of the epidemic, they had been forced to travel to Brest, Sunday January 2 in the Coupe de France. The reason ? The health protocol of the FFF, organizer of the Cup, differs from that of the LFP. The striker Jimmy Briand, one of the few players spared by the Covid, had denounced a “masquerade” after the large defeat (3-0) of a Gironde team largely made up of elements from the reserve.
Despite the return of some professionals, the Girondins will still be cut off from several key players against OM. Not ideal for Marines and Whites in bad shape, especially as the reception in Marseille takes on a special character each season. OM have in fact not won in Gironde since 1977, and this “invincibility” occupies a special place in the hearts of supporters. She has probably never been so threatened …