Juventus defender Daniele Rugani has revealed that he is feeling "pretty well" after contracting coronavirus.
Italy has been the worst-affected country in Europe and today saw the number of deaths from the disease climb to 3,405 - overtaking China as the nation with most COVID-19 fatalities.
Rugani was the first Serie A player to test positive for coronavirus, prompting the league to suspend play until further notice, and he is now hopeful that his case proved useful when forcing the authorities into action.
"I feel well, I want to reassure everyone. I always felt pretty well, I didn't have any serious symptom," the 25-year-old told Juventus TV.
"I consider myself lucky, it was shocking because I was the first in the Calcio world. Aside from that I feel well and I hope my case was useful to make people realize the gravity of the situation.
"It was rather shocking because there was a lot of attention from the media, in just a few minutes many people wrote to me. I will get past this too, we all will. Let's hope we can all restart at the top together."
Rugani's teammate Blaise Matuidi has since become the second Juventus player to test positive for the disease.
Barney Corkhill
