Milan:Welsh international Aaron Ramsey was the first Juventus player to return to individual training at the team’s sports centre in Turin on Tuesday as Cristiano Ronaldo began two weeks’ quarantine after returning to Italy.
Ronaldo and his family landed in Turin Airport just after 10.20pm local time on Monday, according to media reports in Italy.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner arrived by private jet from the Portuguese island of Madeira and will spend two weeks in quarantine.
The 35-year-old played Juventus’s last Serie A game, a 2-0 win over Inter Milan behind closed doors at the Allianz Stadium on March 8, before the Italian football season was suspended amid the COVID-19 pandemic which has killed over 29,000 people in the country.
Ronaldo returned to Madeira after the Inter Milan match to be close to his mother Dolores who had suffered a stroke.
Midfielder Ramsey joined Juventus this season after 11 years with Arsenal, and scored his fourth goal in their last game against Inter Milan behind closed doors before the championship was suspended on March 10. Champions Juventus are leading Serie A, one point ahead of Lazio, as they target a ninth consecutive Scudetto.
Captain Giorgio Chiellini followed shortly after Ramsey, with fellow Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci, wearing a black face mask, arriving later in the afternoon.
Italy’s interior ministry has given the go-ahead for players to return to club training facilities two weeks ahead of schedule, offering a glimmer of hope that the 2019-20 season might yet be saved.
But sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora warned that training in groups must wait until May 18, and it remains uncertain whether matches can restart as the country battles a pandemic which has killed over 29,000. “A realistic prediction can be made in mid-May,” Spadafora said in an interview with Corriere della Sera on Tuesday, denying that he wanted to call a halt to the season. “It would be surreal for a sports minister to demonise football,” he said.
“The majority of Italians do not welcome the resumption of the championship. “But I’m not looking at polls at the moment. Football is an important world in this country, I know it well compared to those who want to give a different message. “I hope to start again, but the government will decide. We will rely on scientific elements, which are not available today.
“There is no opposition of mine, but the desire to evaluate the restart only if the health of the people within the team group is safeguarded. “If the government is forced, I hope not, to establish that there are no conditions (to resume), my effort will be twofold — limit the financial damage to clubs and support the whole world of sport.
“Between ordinary and extraordinary resources, we will invest about one billion euros for the sector as a whole.” Juventus founded in 1897 by a group of Torinese students, the club has worn a black and white striped home kit since 1903 and has played home matches in different grounds around its city, the latest being the 41,507-capacity Juventus Stadium.
Nicknamed Vecchia Signora “the Old Lady”, the club has won 35 official league titles, 13 Coppa Italia titles and eight Supercoppa Italiana titles. The club’s fan base is the largest at national level and one of the largest worldwide (AFP)
