Kolkata: Former Uruguay striker Diego Forlan has called for footballers to respect protocols in the era of ‘new normal’ amid the coronavirus crisis, saying it is not about football but about “life first”.
“Well it is not about football, it is about life you know, everybody has to change things that were usual for them,” LaLiga ambassador Forlan said in quotes shared by LaLiga.
“We have to change all those things to go back to normal life, if you can say it that way. We want to start, we want to start to see LaLiga and for us here in Uruguay, we want to start the league as well.
“So if we want to do that we have to respect the protocol and try to do the things that people and doctors say and understand this, knows it is better for us and our health and it is good to respect that,” added the former Villarreal and Atletico Madrid star.
LaLiga has confirmed dates for the first two rounds of fixtures after the restart following a break of more than two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The season will return to action on June 11 with a local derby between Sevilla and Real Betis and there will be fixtures for the following seven days, with Barcelona hosting Leganes on June 16 and Real Madrid playing at home to Valencia on June 18.
Asked if the return of LaLiga now can be thought as the new start to the season, he said: “No, because you know the league has already started.
“You see the two teams which are playing for the league like Real Madrid and Barcelona and then there are other 5-6 teams playing for the Champions League spots and also for those playing for relegation.
“It’s going to be good for those players and maybe I am not saying restart, but it’s going to be lucky for them to have the opportunity to end the league because if the league was going as it was before… maybe they wouldn’t have that chance so for them it’s going to be like a restart but for other ones it is going to be to finish their jobs and try to do the best for their teams.”
On his lessons from the lockdown, Forlan said: “Well, luckily for us we did not have a lockdown. It’s a small country, the government and the people do things properly, we still keep ourselves home to keep the contagiousness down but I went back to kindergarten as I have two kids and me and my wife started going with them. I am the guy who is filming… so sometimes they let me participate. “Forlán is a two-time winner of both the Pichichi Trophy and the European Golden Shoe.
With the Uruguay national team, he had huge individual success at the 2010 World Cup, finishing as joint top scorer with five goals, including the goal of the tournament, and winning the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player.
Forlán also had a successful international career, scoring 36 times for his country. On 12 July 2011, at the 2011 Copa América in Argentina, which Uruguay won, Forlán earned his 79th international cap in a match against Mexico, breaking the record held since 1986 by goalkeeper Rodolfo Rodríguez. (IANS)
