STANDARD Liege are facing an anxious wait to discover if any of their players will be forced to miss their opening Europa League group match with Rangers on Thursday night due to coronavirus.

Liege drew 1-1 with Club Brugge in a Belgian Pro League match at the Stade Maurice Dufrasne Stadium on Saturday – and three of their opponents’ players have since tested positive for Covid-19. 

UEFA tests yesterday found that Simon Mignolet, Odilon Kossounou and Michael Krmencik, as well as Brugge chief executive Vincent Mannaert, have all been infected by the virus.

None of the quartet have travelled to Russia for their Champions League encounter with Zenit St Petersburg this evening. A club statement read: “The infected players were immediately quarantined.”

No Liege players have been tested since the weekend game and they will find out today if any of them will have to self-isolate and sit out the Group D meeting with Steven Gerrard’s men.  

Meanwhile, Dave Cormack, the Aberdeen chairman, has hit out at the Scottish government after a bid to stage a “test event” at their Premiership game against Celtic at Pittodrie on Sunday and allow 1,000 socially distanced fans to attend was rejected.

Cormack took to Twitter to voice his unhappiness. He posted: "Supported by Aberdeen City Council we applied for a second test event versus Celtic to include 1,000 fans, just 5% capacity, out in the open fresh air. Got a polite ‘no’. from @scotgov @jasonleitch stating our first test was a success & latest plan was robust & in excellent shape.

"Jason Leitch told SPFL execs that outdoor events like football were much more palatable than indoor events. Meanwhile flights are at 100% capacity with recycled air & no social distancing. Hundreds of thousands of fans eagerly await Clubs & @scotgov coming up with a real plan.

"We plan to share these robust test regulations with our fans later this week. Not one single positive case has emerged from the 300 who attended our first test. We are NOT asking for carte blanche... these are "Test Events"... NOT a commitment for multiple games!"