3 players for Austrian soccer team positive for virus after playing Israelis

Salzburg makes announcement days after it hosted Champions League game against Maccabi Tel Aviv, which says it has no new cases of infection among those who played

Austrian champion team Salzburg announced Sunday that three of its players had tested positive for coronavirus, days after its midweek Champions League playoff game against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Austria.

The Israeli team said there were no new cases among those who had played in the game, Channel 12 news reported.

“In the coronavirus tests conducted yesterday, no new infections were found among the players. Another team member who is not part of the senior team was found to be positive (borderline) and he will go into isolation,” Maccabi Tel Aviv said in a statement.

Salzburg said none of the three players was currently displaying symptoms and all of them were now in quarantine.

Illustrative: A Maccabi Tel Aviv player, in white, dribbles the ball between opposing players during a match against Beitar Jerusalem in Jerusalem on June 8, 2020. (Flash90)

Salzburg team members will not be available to play for the Austrian national team for the next two weeks.

Salzburg beat Maccabi 3-1 in the second leg of the qualifying playoff round on Wednesday, advancing 5-2 on aggregate.

Six Maccabi Tel Aviv players were excluded from the squad for the first leg of the qualifying playoff on September 22 in Israel after they tested positive for coronavirus.

Additionally seven staff members and the team’s technical manager, Barak Yitzhaki, were found to be carrying the infection.

Ahead of that game, Salzburg General Manager Jesse Marsch said that he was worried about coming to Israel due to the high infection rate in the country. UEFA nevertheless required that his team make the trip.