Hours after reports claimed he was in close contact with an individual that tested positive for covid-19, Piotr Zielinski has also become infected.

Football Italia reports he is now in quarantine after skipping an order to do so before Napoli’s last game against Juventus.

The Polish midfielder is one of the Partenopei most important players and he helped them to earn a 1-1 draw in that fixture.

The report says their local ASL ordered the 27-year-old alongside Amir Rrahmani and Stanislav Lobotka to quarantine instead of playing in the match.

But Luciano Spalletti fielded them in the game and it remains unclear if he had been permitted to do so or he took that action in defiance of the order.

This could give Juve the chance to appeal against their opponents for fielding ineligible players.

Juve FC Says

With covid ravaging Serie A clubs, we can expect actions like this from some competitors in the league.

Napoli’s increasing covid cases had been in the news for much of the time before the game and we expected them to field an under-strength side.

Although their starting XI was missing key players, we cannot say it wasn’t a strong one.

It would be interesting to see how this one unfolds.