La Liga: Five players test positive for coronavirus

Lionel Messi with the ball during a training session at Joan Gamper sports city in Barca returned to training after 56 days in lockdown, All pictures AFP/FC Barcelona

Barcelona's Spanish coach Quique Setien wearing a face mask as he takes training

Spanish defender Junior Firpo gives a thumbs-up during the training session at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper in Sant Joan Despi

Spanish defender Jordi Alba

German goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen

Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal

French defender Samuel Umtiti

Spanish defender Sergi Roberto

Barcelona's Gerard Pique runs with the ball

Barcelona's head coach Quique Setien

Luis Suarez on the run

Leo Messi at the training session

Barcelona's Frenkie de Jong

Barca defender Gerard Pique

Barcelona's French forward Antoine Griezmann

Five players in Spain's top two divisions have tested positive for Covid-19, La Liga has confirmed.

The league has stepped up the testing of players and staff as the likes of champions and La Liga leaders Barcelona returned to their club's facilities last week.

La Liga did not reveal the identity of the players or their clubs. It said the players would remain at their homes where they would continue individual training before being tested again "in the next few days" to determine whether they can return to their club's training ground.

A La Liga statement read: "Among La Liga Santander and La Liga SmartBank (Segunda) clubs, five positive cases were detected in players, all of them asymptomatic and in the final phase of the disease."

Many clubs have returned to individual training as part of the second stage of La Liga's four-phase protocol for getting back to activity after Spain's top two tiers were suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"One of the objectives of these medical tests, according to the La Liga's protocol for returning to training, according to recommendations of the CSD [Supreme Sports Council] and the Ministry of Health, was precisely to detect the denominated or asymptomatic, that is, those people who are infected and that, without presenting symptoms, they can infect other people," the statement added.

"In this way, we guarantee everyone's safety when returning to work according to the occupational risk regulations."

The medical protocol for training is strict and includes players arriving already changed and at specific times to avoid contact with others. They wear masks and gloves, and have their temperatures taken before entering the premises. At the end of training, they take away a bag of fresh kit for the next day and shower at home.

Real Madrid are due to resume training for the first time in two months on Monday, while La Liga has said it hopes matches will resume, without spectators, by June.