Liverpool And Benfica Players Come Up With Brilliant Alternative To Handshakes

Liverpool and Benfica players elected to come up with an alternative to handshakes ahead of their UEFA Youth League this afternoon.

Precautionary handshakes were taken due to the outbreak of coronavirus across the world and so instead of the usual pre-match greeting, both sets of players and the officials touched elbows ahead of Benfica's dominant 4-1 victory.

Liverpool and Benfica's substitute follows on from The SFA and SPFL writing to clubs to inform them that players and club officials are banned from shaking hands with their opponents before and after matches, starting with tonight's fixtures.

The decision has been taken on the recommendation on the recommendation by the SFA/SPFL Coronavirus Response Group.

A statement from SFA president Ian Maxwell and SPFL head Neil Doncaster read: "As you may be aware from yesterday's circular, the Scottish FA and Scottish Professional Football League have formed a joint response group to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus in the national game.

"At today's daily briefing, it was agreed that with immediate effect we would seek to suspended the traditional practice of shaking hands between opponents and match officials prior to and following matches

"This is keeping with the Scottish Government's circulated guidance on appropriate steps to reduce person-to-person contact and the resultant spread of the infection, and will remain in effect until further notice.

"We would request that you instruct all players, coaching staff and match officials on the latest guidance prior to the latest round of fixtures, starting this evening.

"We are grateful for your co-operation on this matter as we take a commonsense approach to the current situation."

Over in Italy, a number of Serie A fixtures including Inter Milan vs Juventus have been cancelled due to coronavirus fears, while UEFA have admitted they are currently at a 'waiting stage' as to whether Euro 2020 will go ahead as planned this summer due to the recent outbreak.

Topics: Liverpool, Football News, Football, Coronavirus, Benfica

Josh Lawless

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