Real Madrid Forward Tests Positive For COVID-19 Ahead Of Champions League Clash vs. Manchester City

Real Madrid forward Mariano Diaz has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss his side’s Champions League clash against Manchester City next month.

Man City are set to host Real Madrid for the return leg of their Round of 16 tie, having defeated Zinedine Zidane’s side 2-1 at Santiago Bernabeu earlier this year.

The Etihad game will not be an easy fixture for the 13-time champions and as a minor setback, they will be without their 26-year-old Spanish striker, Mariano, who scored one goal in seven competitive matches this season. The player has been asked to self-isolate for at least two weeks.

Real Madrid won the 2019-20 La Liga title and the players were given a small break when the league ended earlier this month. It is understood that Los Blancos have now returned to training ahead of their must-win Champions League match, scheduled to take place on Aug. 7.

Real Madrid said in a statement, "After the COVID-19 tests carried out individually on our first football team yesterday by the Real Madrid Medical Services, our player Mariano has given a positive result. The player is in perfect health and complying with the sanitary isolation protocol at home."

Mariano, who started his youth career in 2002, joined Real Madrid’s youth team in 2011. Five years later, he made his first team debut with the Bernabeu side before moving to Lyon in 2018. After two impressive seasons at the French club, where he scored 21 goals in 48 appearances, the young forward was re-signed by Real Madrid ahead of the 2018-19 season for $38 million. Unfortunately, he has struggled to bag a regular place in Zidane's team.

While there have been doubts about whether the Etihad match will go ahead as planned or not, it has been confirmed that the match will be played. Real Madrid anyway needed a special exemption to travel for the game after the U.K. government’s latest announced that anyone arriving from Spain would have to quarantine for 14 days.