Both players will have to “isolate and train individually” in private areas at England’s St George’s Park training base until the 28th of June
England football players Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell will have to self-isolate until Monday after coming into close contact with Scotland player Billy Gilmour, the Football Association has now announced.
Both players will be required “isolate and train individually” in private areas at England’s St George’s Park training base until the 28th of June, the FA has said in a statement.
It means that the pair will miss tonight’s Euro 2020 clash with the Czech Republic, a decision that has been taken in consultation with Public Health England.
This comes after Gareth Southgate’s England team is now guaranteed to finish Euro 2020 as, at worst, one of the four best teams in third-place. The Scots will have to beat Croatia at Hampden Park if they are to progress to the last 16 of the tournament.
The entirety of the England squad and staff have had lateral flow tests on Monday and all were again all negative, as was the case with Sunday’s UEFA pre-match PCR tests.
Further coronavirus tests will be carried out as and when appropriate, the FA has said.
Billy Gilmour, who won the man of the match award for Scotland in their second group D match against England, had tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday after the 0-0 draw on Friday.
In a statement, the Scottish FA has said that Gilmour, who plays club football for Chelsea, will be self-isolating for 10 days after the positive test and will, as a result, miss Scotland’s third Euro match against Croatia at Hampden Park in Glasgow tonight.
Mount and Chilwell had embraced and spoke to Gilmour on the pitch after their match, and are also reported to have spent 25 minutes with their Chelsea team-mate in the tunnel afterwards.
The pair could potentially miss England’s first Euro 2020 knockout game depending on the outcome of tonight’s final Group D matches.
This comes after footballer Christian Eriksen has thanked well-wishers from around the world after suffering a cardiac arrest during his team’s Euro 2020 game.
If England top the group, they will play the second-placed team in Group F (Portugal, France, Germany, Hungary) at Wembley next Tuesday.
But if Gareth Southgate‘s side are runners-up in Group D, they will play the runners-up of Group E (Spain, Sweden, Poland, Slovakia) next Monday – meaning Mount and Chilwell will be unavailable.
If England finish as one of four best third-placed teams, a situation which would require them to lose to Czech Republic and for Scotland to beat Croatia by a significant margin, they will play either the winners of Group C or Group B on Sunday, or the winners of Group E on Tuesday.