Mohamed Elyounoussi was caught on camera using his phone during Celtic’s 4-1 Europa League defeat to Sparta Prague on November 5th, and three days later, he netted a hattrick in his side’s league win over Motherwell.
The Southampton owned player, who is high on confidence after his fine display at the weekend, joined the Norway camp along with his club teammate Kristoffer Ajer.
Unfortunately for the Hoops duo, they couldn’t represent their country in November’s international break so far because Norway’s friendly against Israel was cancelled after a player from the latter’s squad tested positive for Covid-19.
This was done just hours before the kick-off on Wednesday, when the entire Israel squad was in Oslo.
Earlier today, the Norwegian football federation confirmed one of their own players has tested positive.
“A player on the A-team has tested positive for Covid-19. He has now been quarantined at the hotel. Today’s training has been cancelled. The rest of the squad follows the infection control measures in the UEFA protocol and adheres to the instructions of local health authorities,” a statement read.
“The NFF are in dialogue with UEFA and local infection control authorities, and awaiting information on what will happen next.”
Elabdellaoui is symptomatic and according to World Health Organization, symptomatic infected people are more likely to transmit the virus than asymptomatically infected individuals.
This could be a concern for Celtic as Elabdellaoui would/will have been in contact or close contact with Elyounoussi and Ajer.
There’s anger in Norway over the situation this international break.
“This is just another proof of how foolish it was to arrange for this friendly international match against Israel. Players were flown in from all the world’s airports, while the infection skyrocketed in Oslo,” TV 2‘s football expert Jesper Mathisen said.
“When we now see that there is infection in both the Israeli and the Norwegian national team squad, this is on the verge of madness.”
Norway face Romania in the UEFA Nations League tie on Sunday and it’s followed by a clash against Austria on November 18th. As of now, there’s no clarity if these fixtures will go ahead as per the schedule.
“We are working on all current issues now. It’s unclear. Clarifications later this afternoon,” NFF secretary general Pål Bjerketvedt told Dagbladet.
Meanwhile, TV 2’s commentator Mina Finstad Berg fears the virus could start spreading within Norway’s squad after Elabdellaoui was tested positive today.
“There can potentially be a lot of close contacts here. The national team has followed a strict infection control regime, but they have trained and had meals together. There are potentially many close contacts,” Mina Finstad Berg explained.
The latest news from the Scandinavian country will surely concern Neil Lennon and Celtic, and the Bhoys will be keeping a close eye on how things develop in Norway’s camp.
