Coronavirus in sport: How La Liga players keep themselves busy on social media

Online charity

While there was not any action in La Liga stadiums, there were a load of virtual matches for fans to enjoy. Spanish eSports commentator and influencer Ibai Llanos organised a FIFA20 tournament called the La Liga Santander Challenge featuring a player of each La Liga team.

Marco Asensio and Aitor Ruibal took their Real Madrid and Leganés teams to the final, which was won 4-2 by Asensio. Fans following the action could donate money to help the fight against the coronavirus and over €140,000 had been raised by the conclusion of the tournament.

Reading books

This is a great time to start a brand-new book and two La Liga players discussed their reading preferences on social media. RC Celta's Rafinha was looking for an interesting non-fiction book and asked for recommendations via his Twitter account.

The midfielder received many excellent suggestions, including from Real Betis striker Borja Iglesias, who shared a photo of Lamar Odom and Jermaine Pennant's autobiographies and of a book about the New Zealand rugby team by James Kerr.

Virtual press conferences

It is impossible to organise in-person press conferences right now, but there have been virtual ones over the past week for fans to stay up to date on the latest happenings at their club.

For example, Athletic Club forward Inaki Williams answered questions from fans and from the media from his home, while Levante coach Paco Lopez similarly spoke about the situation at his club in a streamed video.

Football tennis with the neighbours

CA Osasuna team-mates Raul Navas and Fran Merida live next door to each other, which proves very useful when it comes to keeping their skills sharp.

The two players enjoyed a game of football tennis by using the hedge they share as a net, with a video filmed and shared on social media.