Players are donating money to hospitals and raising funds to help Italy get through the Coronavirus pandemic, including Leonardo Bonucci, Josip Ilicic and Lorenzo Insigne.
Serie A, B and C have been put into lockdown and the death toll in the country now stands at 1,441 with another 1,518 in intensive care and 17,750 currently suffering from the respiratory disease.
Players are donating money to hospitals and raising funds to help Italy get through the Coronavirus pandemic, including Leonardo Bonucci, Josip Ilicic and Lorenzo Insigne.
Serie A, B and C have been put into lockdown and the death toll in the country now stands at 1,441 with another 1,518 in intensive care and 17,750 currently suffering from the respiratory disease.
Players are therefore using their time, influence and money to raise funds for hospitals who are at breaking point.
Juventus defender Bonucci has donated €120,000 to the Città della Salute hospital in Turin, which he already knew well, as his infant son had life-saving surgery there.
Napoli captain Insigne donated €100,000 to the local Cotugno hospital in Naples and urged his social media followers to do the same.
Atalanta star Ilicic scored four goals in the 4-3 Champions League win over Valencia and proudly took the match ball home with him after that historic occasion.
However, Atalanta announced he has gifted the ball to the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo “as a sign of closeness, gratitude and affection for what doctors, nurses and all those involved are doing to fight a horrific virus that is shaking the lives of all of us.”
Atalanta fans had already donated €60,000 to the hospital, consisting of the €40,000 they collectively would’ve spent on the trip to Valencia, which was ultimately played behind closed doors along with another €20,000 handed in by ultras groups.
The Atalanta squad and coach Gian Piero Gasperini clubbed together to raise a further €50,000 for the hospital.
Inter, Juventus, Parma and others have all set up fund-raising pages to get the resources Italy’s hospitals so badly need during this crisis.
The Nerazzurri have already raised €500,000 for the local hospital and research into finding a cure.
Bergamo is the hardest hit region of all, and L'Eco di Bergamo newspaper had a chilling example of how bad the situation is by showing they usually have one page for obituaries, whereas it was 10 yesterday and 11 today.