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Coronavirus: Former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz has died after testing positive for Covid-19

Spaniard was in charge at Bernabeu between 1995 and 2005

Alex Pattle
Saturday 21 March 2020 22:26 GMT
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The Bernabeu hosts El Clasico tonight
The Bernabeu hosts El Clasico tonight

Former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz has died at the age of 76 after testing positive for coronavirus.

He was taken into intensive care in Spain on Tuesday after suffering from a fever.

Sanz was president at the Bernabeu between 1995 and 2005 and oversaw Madrid’s Champions League wins in 1998 and 2000.

During his tenure, Madrid also won La Liga in 1997 and the Spanish Supercopa the same year.

Sanz, whose son Fernando played for Madrid as a central defender, was succeeded as president by Florentino Perez in 2000.

Earlier on Saturday, Juventus’ Paulo Dybala tested positive for the disease, as did his girlfriend.

AC Milan technical director and former defender Paolo Maldini also tested positive, and so did his son Daniel, 18, who plays for Milan’s youth team.

And earlier in the week, Real Madrid striker Luka Jovic was investigated for ignoring self-isolation rules in his native Serbia.

He later apologised, saying: “I am very sorry that I am the main topic these days and that I am constantly being written about, not the heroes of this crisis: doctors and all the medical professionals.

“While in Spain, I [tested] negative for coronavirus and decided to come to Serbia to help and support our people and be close to my family.

“When I landed in Serbia, I was once again tested and coronavirus negative. It is very unfortunate for me that some people did their job unprofessionally and did not give me the correct instructions for how to behave in self-isolation.

“In Spain, I was allowed to go to a pharmacy and a supermarket so that I could get the groceries I needed, which is not the case here.

“I apologise to all the people if I compromised them in some way and I hope that we can manage to get through all this together. Support Serbia and let’s stick together.”

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