Wales and Portsmouth midfielder Joe Morrell has joked that it is a "good job" that he failed to get "within two metres" of Manchester City ace Kevin De Bruyne during Wales' clash with Belgium on Tuesday evening.
Morrell has made the light-hearted admission after it was confirmed on Friday afternoon that the City midfielder has returned a positive test for Covid-19.
The Belgian, who has scored three goals in 14 appearances for City so far this season, has contracted the virus whilst in Belgium and will now need to quarantine for ten days.
It means that he will miss City's upcoming Premier League clashes with Everton and West Ham United, plus Wednesday evening's huge UEFA Champions League encounter with Paris Saint-Germain at the Etihad Stadium.
On the blow of losing De Bruyne ahead of what is going to be a huge week for City, manager Pep Guardiola said: "Two days ago he told me he was positive. I think he's here (in England).
"Forget about the fitness and the momentum. Now he is positive he has to recover well and go with as few symptoms as possible.
"The health of the human being is more important than anything else. So one person tests positive, be careful because still now people are dying about this pandemic situation. He was vaccinated so he was more protected.
"Hopefully he will have minor symptoms. The important thing is that he comes back when he is negative, he will start to train with us as soon as possible again and come back but it’s not about any concern about the rhythm or what we are going to miss.
"The person is more important. When someone tests positive we have to be careful and we have to help him and he has to be isolated at home and hopefully it will go well."
However, Wales midfielder Morrell has opted to react to De Bruyne's positive with a light-hearted comment on social media.
Quote tweeting a tweet on Twitter that was confirming De Bruyne's positive test and absence, the Portsmouth star joked that he failed to get close to him in Wales and Belgium's FIFA World Cup qualifier on Tuesday evening at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Morrell tweeted: "Good job I didn't get within two metres of him then! Player."
Making that admission, it is clear that the Welshman was highly impressed by De Bruyne's performance on Tuesday evening, which featured a goal for the City ace in the 1-1 draw between the two sides.
Furthermore, he has also implied that by him being that impressed by him, he failed to lay a glove on him, so much so that he didn't get close enough to contract the virus.
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