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 flew back to northern Italy by private jet on
Monday night after almost two months in coronavirus lockdown in his native
Portugal.
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.”