Coronavirus: Roma will not travel for Sevilla match as plane unauthorised to land

Roma have announced they will not travel to Spain for the first leg of their Europa League last-16 match against Sevilla on Thursday.

The Italian club said on Twitter on Wednesday that their “plane from Italy was not authorised to land in Spain”, adding UEFA would provide a further update.

Both legs of the tie had been due to take place behind closed doors.

Italy is in lockdown over the coronavirus outbreak, with significant travel restrictions in place across the country.

Breaking news: #ASRoma will not travel to Spain for the @EuropaLeague match against @SevillaFC_ENG after the plane from Italy was not authorised to land in Spain. More details from UEFA soon. pic.twitter.com/vnVmJLkeRC

— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) March 11, 2020

There have been over 10,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Italy, where 631 people have died.

Spain is also one of the worst-affected countries in Europe as there have been over 2,000 confirmed cases and 47 deaths.

Several airlines have already stopped flying to Italy during the outbreak.