Wolverhampton Wanderers will be playing against Olympiacos tomorrow evening after all of their players and staff were given the green light about not having the virus.
There were previous concerns due to their owner Evangelos Marinakis – who is also the owner of Nottingham Forest – being tested as positive for Covid-19, meaning that all players, staff members and board members must go through testing to ensure that they have not picked up the virus and that it’ts not spread about a club.
Wolves had previously requested that the match was postponed, however, UEFA rejected the approach, leading to a strong-worded statement where the club said that “there are more important things than football”.
The news that Olympiacos players are free from the virus is also a boost to Arsenal, who have seen their game against Manchester City tonight postponed over the fact that they faced them in the last leg, where the players allegedly came in close contact with the owner.
How will Wolverhampton Wanderers fare against Olympiacos?
Win
Draw
The game is set to take place on Thursday, with the return leg a week later, but with the tournament facing a lot of issues at the moment, it’s hard to look long-term in terms of the winner.
Elsewhere across Europe, Manchester United and Rangers are both set to play against LASK and Bayer Leverkusen respectively behind closed doors.
Other clubs have gone further. Getafe have told UEFA that they will not be going to Milan to face Inter due to the risk of the illness, while Roma will not have their plane authorised in Spain to face Sevilla, so that’s two games which look extremely unlikely to go ahead.
This, of course, leaves a lot of doubt for the future of this competition, as no one can begin to understand what will happen if these ties don’t take place.
It’s rotten luck that this is the time where it seems to be Wolves’ year, but public health should always override sport. Only time will tell what will with the latter stages of the tournament.
