The good news came this Thursday morning at the box office of the presence of Lionel Messi the day after his return to France after a negative test which allowed him to leave Argentina. On the other hand, a new case of Covid has emerged. As in September 2020, Angel Di Maria tested positive and therefore immediately placed in isolation, according to the Argentinian channel TyC Sports he would be asymptomatic for the moment.
The Argentinian midfielder will therefore not be able to claim to take part in the trip to Lyon on Sunday (8:45 p.m.) for the 20th day of Ligue 1. Monday evening, the day after his return from vacation in Argentina, he remained on the bench for the Round of 16 of the Coupe de France in Vannes (0-4). But he trained on Tuesday and Wednesday with the rest of the squad.
Di Maria therefore joins the long list of Parisians affected by the Covid in recent days: Lionel Messi and Juan Bernat (tested negative since), Nathan Bitumazala, Sergio Rico, Danilo Pereira, Gianluigi Donnarumma (Tuesday) and Layvin Kurzawa (Wednesday). They are therefore eight to have been affected in recent days while Thilo Kehrer and Éric Junior Dina Ebimbe had been affected just before the Christmas break and had missed the trip to Lorient (1-1).
PSG are preparing for the match in Lyon without Neymar who is still treating himself in Brazil and who will return this Sunday. The Lyonnais have also been affected by several cases of Covid. Several Ligue 1 matches are threatened while the new League protocol (LFP) will be applied for the first time on this day. This Thursday, the League thus formalized the postponement of Lille – Lorient scheduled for Saturday, due to the number of cases among the Merlus.