LAST UPDATE | 7 Oct 2020
SLOVAKIA MANAGER PAVEL Hapal has confirmed that key midfielder Stanislav Lobotka won’t be available for tomorrow night’s European Championship play-off semi-final against the Republic of Ireland.
Inter Milan defender Milan Skriniar is also set to miss the game in Bratislava after testing positive for Covid-19.
Lobotka is to remain in quarantine in Italy following an outbreak of the virus at his club, Napoli, which left the Serie A side unable to fulfil last weekend’s fixture against Juventus.
In his pre-match press conference, Hapal expressed his frustration at seeing Lobotka join a list of absentees that already included goalkeeper Martin Dubravka and left-back David Hancko.
It had been reported that Lobotka returned three negative tests for the virus. In a statement this evening, Napoli said that the results of his latest test have yet to be processed, and that a youth team player is the club’s newest positive case.
Lobotka, who has started his country’s last 10 competitive fixtures, joined Napoli from Celta Vigo in a €24million transfer in January.
The loss of Skriniar is a further blow to the Slovaks. The centre-back, who played in Inter’s 1-1 draw with Lazio on Sunday, tested positive after linking up with the national team.
Often touted as a transfer target for a host of Premier League clubs, Skriniar has won 33 senior international caps since his 2016 debut.
