Former Arsenal and Barcelona star Alexander Hleb is perplexed when he was asked why his home country Belarus, is still kicking football despite the coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n
Belarus is also the only Eastern European country that have yet to stop any sporting events, as the president Alexander Lukashenko refused to do so.<\/p>\n
Hleb himself has kept his family well isolated at home and could only joke about how ridiculous the situation at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the world now watches the Belarusian league,\u201d Hleb told\u00a0The Sun. \u201cEverybody should go to their television and see us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the NHL closed the season, a lot of ice hockey players went to\u00a0Russia\u00a0to play. Maybe Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo might come to the Belarus league to continue. You know?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the only place in Europe you can play football. At least then the people of Belarus will be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coronavirus has closed the\u00a0Champions League\u00a0and the\u00a0Europa League. This is good, because you have to try and stop it. UEFA have done the right thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut in Belarus, it\u2019s like no one cares. It\u2019s incredible. Maybe in one week or two weeks we will stop here. Maybe our President is just waiting to see what happens with the virus.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody here knows what\u2019s happened to\u00a0Italy\u00a0and\u00a0Spain. It doesn\u2019t look good. But in our country, people in the presidential administration believe it\u2019s not as extreme as the news says.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of young people and students here think like this. I\u2019m keeping at home with my family. But when I go out, the streets and restaurants are still busy. They just don\u2019t care. I care about my health and my family. I\u2019m keeping to minimum contact.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to explain our country. All leagues have closed but we don\u2019t seem to think it\u2019s a problem. Why? I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"