Bergamo mayor: Atalanta-Valencia was a biological bomb Valencia Over 44,000 fans inside San Siro

The mayor of Bergamo, Giorgio Gori, believes the encounter between Atalanta and Valencia caused the massive spread of coronavirus in Italy and Spain.

The two sides went head-to-head at San Siro in Milan, where the Bergamo club play their European matches this season.

Over 44,000 spectators filled the stadium, and the mayor of Bergamo feels that this led to the virus spreading en masse.

"The match was a biological bomb," Gori said in an interview on Facebook.

"At that time we did not know what was happening. The first patient in Italy was on February 23.

"If the virus was already circulating, the forty thousand fans who went to San Siro were infected.

"No one knew that the virus was already circulating among us.

Many watched the game in groups and there were lots of contact [between fans] that night.

"The virus passed from one person to another," he added.

Gori also considers that there were also other key causes of the contagion spreading,

"The match didn't cause everything because the spark was really at the Alzano Lombardo hospital, as a patient with unrecognised pneumonia infected patients, doctors and nurses," Gori stated.

"That was the focal point of the outbreak," he added.

Shortly after their return to Spain, a third of Valencia's first team tested positive for the virus, including Ezequiel Garay, Jose Gaya and Eliaquim Mangala.

In fact, the first known patient in Valencia was journalist Enrique Mateu, who traveled to Milan to cover the game and subsequently spent 25 days in hospital before being discharged.

On Tuesday, Atalanta confirmed their first positive case for the coronavirus in goalkeeper Marco Sportiello.