MADRID, May 5 -- FC Barcelona confirmed on Tuesday that their first team squad will undergo medical tests on Wednesday before returning to training.
The tests are to ensure that no players have been infected by the coronavirus, which has led to no football being played in Spain for the past two months.
If they are given a clean bill of health, the players will start training individually in accordance with the Spanish government's conditions to scale down restrictions imposed to halt the spread of Covid-19, but they should be able to train in reduced groups of six from next week.
The Spanish league (Liga Santander) will almost certainly resume matches in early June, but the remaining 11 games of the season will be played behind closed doors without supporters in the stands.
When the Liga Santander was suspended after the 27th round of games, Barcelona led the table with a two point lead over Real Madrid.
The players of another Liga Santander club, Eibar on Tuesday published a statement in which they said they were not happy at the possible return of football, while the pandemic is still active in Spain.
"We are afraid to start an activity in which we cannot reach the minimum recommendation of the experts, physical distancing. It unsettles us that, for doing what we like most, we could get infected, infect our families and friends and even contribute to a new outbreak of the pandemic, with the terrible consequences that would have for the population," reads the statement.
"The most important thing should be everyone's health... We want guarantees. We demand responsibility," it concludes.