Affected by the Covid-19, Aubameyang and Lemina leave the selection to return to their club

The two Gabonese stars Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mario Lemina, positive for Covid-19 before the first match of their team in the African Cup of Nations, will leave their selection and return to their clubs, respectively Arsenal and Nice, announced their coach Patrice Neveu on Monday.

“Given the medical concern that Pierre-Emerick (Aubameyang) and Mario (Lemina) encountered, in agreement with the doctor, my federation president and the players, we made the wise decision to bring them back to their clubs so that they can be treated and taken care of,” Neveu said at a press conference on the eve of the match against Morocco.

MRI found traces of Covid-19

“For two reasons: the first is that there are no big alarms about heart problems, because they don’t have heart problems. On the other hand, on the spot, we are not in control of analyzing the dangerousness of the waste which caused this inflammation”, he continued.

Tested positive four days before Gabon’s first game, Aubameyang and Lemina missed their team’s first two games, against Comoros (1-0 victory) on January 10 and Ghana (1-1), four days later. Despite a negative test, they did not play against Ghana, since they retained some traces of Covid-19, according to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), required in the protocol of the Confederation of African Football.