If there’s one thing the Covid-19 pandemic has managed to drive home, it’s that everyone is human, and while footballers might lead a cocooned life when everything is normal, when it comes to something as serious as global health, they have to and want to abide by the rules placed upon them.
Yes, you’ll have those who (wrongly) feel invincible or simply don’t think of the repercussions their actions may have, like Jack Grealish or Kyle Walker, but, for the most part, the football community has come together and stuck to the advice to stay at home until this is all over.
Among them is Mattéo Guendouzi, and the Arsenal midfielder took some time out of his unlikely-to-be-very-busy schedule at home to have a chat with TF1 journalist Julien Maynard about the whole thing.
He said: “For me, what I think is most important is to not start things up again, no games, no training, until this epidemic stops. What’s most important is everybody’s health, and not just in the football world, but in the medical world and the world in general. That’s really what’s most important.
“I’m in favour of nothing starting up again until this virus is taken off this world.”
"Ne reprendre ni entraînement ni match avant que cette épidémie ne s'arrête" ❌
Dans un entretien exclusif, @MatteoGuendouzi explique à @JulienMaynard en quoi le football n'est actuellement pas une priorité pic.twitter.com/vPZSbEIe9n — Téléfoot (@telefoot_TF1) April 7, 2020
Following the news Mikel Arteta had tested positive for Covid-19, the whole of Arsenal went into quarantine sooner than everyone else, so for the vast majority of players at the club, the lockdown has been a bit longer.
Regardless of the time they have been stuck at home for, Guendouzi made it clear they just have to keep following what they are being told to do.
He continued: “For now, the orders have been clear. There’s nothing at all. No training, no games, and not for a while. We know the United Kingdom took measures a bit after France, which means this period is starting to be very difficult here.
“There’s a lot of people who are starting to die from this virus. I don’t know if we’re at the start or just in the middle, but we know it’s not the end of this virus, so we know it’s not going to start back up just yet.”
