River announced that it closes the club indefinitely and that Gallardo’s team will not appear to play against Atlético Tucumán due to the coronavirus

Less than 24 hours after playing the first date of the Super League Cup against Atlético Tucumán at the Monumental stadium, and arguing the dangers caused by the epidemiological crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, River Plate decided to close the club indefinitely from this Saturday, March 14.

The unilateral decision of the “millionaire” leadership, made known when other teams were already playing their matches, surprised the football environment. The decision by the River Plate officials seems hasty and exposes the Núñez club to harsh penalties by the AFA.

In a statement, the institution chaired by Rodolfo D’Onofrio assured that it seeks “Safeguard the health of partners, employees and the thousands of people who attend the different activities daily”.

With that argument, and in the preview of what was to be the premiere in the Super League Cup for the club’s first team, the team led by Marcelo Gallardo will not appear in the duel that he was going to play at the Monumental against Ricardo Zielinski’s team. The match was scheduled to start at 17:45 and, by order of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, the meeting was to be held behind closed doors.

“Competition involves severe risks to the health of the professional team and all those involved in an official match”, cites the statement from River, which focuses on the situation that one of the millionaire youth soccer players went through during the day on Friday, which had to activate the coronavirus protocol in the professional soccer Reserve team.

Thomas Gutiérrez, footballer of the Reserve, presented symptoms of fever and had to be evaluated by the medical staff of the Núñez institution. The same happened with a nutritionist from the club and both were quarantined. With the passage of hours, it was confirmed that the footballer, born in Venezuela but naturalized Colombian, gave a negative result in the study to detect if he was infected with COVID-19.

“The club did everything it had to do, they just discharged him, thank God. The medical report showed that he had pharyngitis ”, expressed Marcelo Ferreyra in dialogue with the Closs Continental program, which is broadcast on AM 590.

Given the decline of River to play for date 1 of zone B of the Superliga Cup, it will have to be seen what will happen to the Atlético Tucumán campus and what will be the communication of the Argentine Soccer Superliga, now in charge of Marcelo Tinelli, chosen to lead the transition until the AFA takes possession of the First Division soccer organization again.

In addition to announcing that Marcelo Gallardo’s team will not appear to play against the Tucuman team, the club also confirmed that the same will happen with the Lower Divisions of the institution.

Official statement from River Plate in which it announced that it will close its facilities from Saturday, March 14

Following the suggestions of the World Health Organization and attentive to the different resolutions of the national government and the City of Buenos Aires in relation to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), River Plate informs that the Club will remain closed in its entirety to from Saturday March 14 for an undetermined time.

With this measure, the Club seeks to safeguard the health of its members, employees and the thousands of people who attend the different activities carried out at the Institution daily.

The Human Resources Department will coordinate with its staff forms of work in home office mode when this is possible and will give leave to those who cannot fulfill their tasks remotely.

As for professional football, the Club considers that the competition involves severe risks to the health of the professional team and all those involved in an official match. The fact that today one of our players has shown symptoms compatible with coronavirus (COVID-19) confirms the warned risks and forces us to become aware of the aforementioned consequences, beyond the fact that the diagnosis has not been confirmed and that Thomas Gutiérrez is evolving favorably. In view of this, River Plate has decided that, due to reasons of force majeure, it will not appear in the match on Saturday March 14 vs. Atlético Tucumán. The same decision will apply to the Lower Divisions.

In advance, we appreciate understanding and appeal to the individual responsibility of each and every one of us.