Hatem Abd Elhamed has given a chilling recollection of Israel’s match against the Czech Republic the day before he returned a positive test.
Team-mate Nir Bitton tested positive the day after facing Scotland but two days later Elhamed was almost floored as he went through his second international match in three days.
The 29-year-old is now out of self-isolation but match day and the aftermath of the Czech Republic match really should have UEFA thinking seriously over the November schedule of three more international dates mainly built around the Nations League.
Picking up on a podcast from Israel, the Daily Record reports:
It started on the day of our game against Czech Republic. Three hours before the match I started to feel weird. I checked my temperature, and since I didn’t have fever i thought it might be the busy schedule or maybe from the air conditioning.
A day before the match I got a negative test so I assumed there is not a chance I’m positive now. That’s the problem with this pandemic, you never really know.
So I played and from the start I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t breathe, my body was so tired, I felt something was wrong but I kept playing until the end – a big mistake. But I won’t leave a match unless i can’t walk on my own power.
After the match I almost collapsed, went into a side room at the stadium, drank a lot and took some pills from our doctor. I took a taxi home to self quarantine and the next day I tested positive.
Something may have been lost in translation but almost collapsing and getting a taxi home must be a concern for every player and club supplying players to the Israeli FA.
During the last break players from across Europe flew into Glasgow, Israel and Prague before being returned to their clubs.
Elhamed is very unlikely to be involved in Celtic’s Europa League match against AC Milan tomorrow but he could be called on for next week’s trip to face Lille.