When Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini was struggling with the coronavirus in mid-March, the prospect of entering Bergamos hospital which was overflowing with COVID-19 patients at the time made him fear for his life. The 62-year-old Gasperini started feeling sick on March 9, a day before Atalanta played at Valencia in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16. With the virus advancing rapidly across Europe, the second leg in Valencia was played without fans. Previously the only member of Atalanta who was confirmed as testing positive for the virus was reserve goalkeeper Marco Sportiello. Atalanta can help Bergamo recover, while respecting the pain and those in mourning, Gasperini said.

FILE - In this file photo taken in Brescia, Italy, on July 18 2018, Brescia's Daniele Gastardello is seen during a training session. Brescia captain Daniele Gastaldello says his entire squad opposes resuming the Serie A soccer season amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Richard Morgano/LaPresse via AP)ROME – With his team based in the Lombardy region where nearly 15,000 people have died from the coronavirus, Brescia captain Daniele Gastaldello said his entire squad opposes resuming the Serie A soccer season. “In Brescia we’ve all been touched,” Gastaldello told Italian daily La Repubblica in an interview published Thursday. We’ve realized how little it takes to ruin a family.”While most clubs in the Italian league are resuming training on an individual basis this week, last-place Brescia is one of the holdouts.

ROME – Nearly seven weeks after the last game was played, Italy’s top soccer division finally has a target date to resume practice. Premier Giuseppe Conte announced Sunday that professional sports teams can resume training on May 18, while individual sports can resume practice on May 4. The move means that the Serie A league could resume playing games in June — albeit without any fans in the stadiums. “The FIGC (the Italian soccer federation) presented a protocol and the technical-scientific commission said it wasn’t sufficient yet. “We certainly don’t want them to get sick.”___More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports___Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf