COVID-19: Croatia captain receives positive test result at halftime of friendly

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Nov 11, 2020

European national teams resumed play this week despite the sweeping COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

Many teams are not playing just two games in the November window, but they are playing three, squeezing a friendly game in at the beginning of the window and extending the window an extra day to get in the third game.

Teams are testing multiple times, but not fast enough to keep up with COVID-19 spread.

Croatia captain Domagoj Vida played the first half of Wednesday night's 3-3 tie with Turkey in Istanbul before test results taken on Wednesday morning came back with a potentially positive test result.

Vida was replaced on the Croatia backline by Filip Uremovic before the start of the second half and placed into isolation when further tests confirmed the positive result. He will stay in Istanbul, where he plays for Istanbul club Besiktas,

The rest of the team tested negative and is scheduled to travel to Stockholm for Saturday's UEFA Nations League match against Sweden.

In a statement, the Croatian federation said it was complying with UEFA's Return to Play protocol.

Photo: Ulmer/Imago/Icon Sportswire