Instagram du jour: Mario Bittencourt

• by Soccer America , Jun 29, 2020

"Game day was always the best day of my week. But today, for the first time, I'm leaving home sad to watch my 'Tricolor.' Players in masks, an empty stadium, a championship that rushes back without knowing whose interests it serves. Thousands of people are dying in Brazil while we are forced to play football without any safety measures. Another sad page in the history of football in Rio de Janeiro, already so battered and outdated. Infected athletes, poor clubs unable to comply with protocols and everyone, all of us, at risk of contamination. I just hope we all get through this insanity unharmed."

-- Mario Bittencourt, president of Fluminense, on the resumption of play in Rio state league, the first league to resume in South America, despite the coronavirus pandemic that has killed 57,000 Brazilians. Flu's first game, a 3-0 loss to Volta Redonda, was played at the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium after it successfully protested against playing at the Maracana Stadium, where a coronavirus field hospital has been set up in the parking lot. Flu argued playing there would be disrespectful to victims and their families. (@mbittenfluoficial)