MILAN, May 9: Italian football giants Inter Milan and AC Milan were both back training two months after a strict lockdown which has hit the northern Italian city hard.
Inter said all their players and staff had tested negative for the coronavirus on Friday, clearing the way for them to return to individual training.
Captain Samir Handanovic led the way in the afternoon as players, including Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku, wearing face masks and some in gloves, arrived at the team�s Appiano Gentile training centre, 35km northwest of Milan.
Temperatures were taken on arrival with three groups of players alternating in the afternoon to respect social distancing rules.
Their city rival resumed earlier in the week with club technical director Paolo Maldini warning �not going back on the pitch would be a disaster.�
Former captain Maldini, together with his 18-year-old son Daniel, a Milan youth team player, have both recovered from COVID-19, but the San Siro outfit revealed on Friday that some squad members are still not negative.
�You have to be careful, but not to resume would be a disaster from all points of view,� 51-year-old Maldini said during an Instagram Live chat on Friday.
�France were wrong to decree the end immediately, but we will accept what will be the verdict of the government. There is so much uncertainty.�
The city in the northern Lombardy region is the epicentre of Italy�s outbreak, one of the worst in Europe in terms of deaths and infections.
It has suffered some 15,000 deaths, around half of Italy�s 30,000 coronavirus fatalities, since the outbreak first erupted in early March.
One by one stars have returned to Italy with Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo in two weeks� coronavirus quarantine as his team got back to training on Tuesday. � AFP
