COVID-19 TOLD THROUGH FOOTBALL

Book excerpt: Is it possible to explain the science behind the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic in a simple way, and with football? “COVID-19 told through football” has done it. This book combines rigorous scientific information, supported by articles that are referenced, with anecdotes from the world of football that serve to create analogies and disseminate scientific knowledge about COVID-19. The author is a biomedical researcher, with more than twenty-five years of experience in prestigious research institutions, such as Harvard University, but he has also been an amateur soccer player and has written soccer books (Raticos de fútbol I and II, in Spanish). In this way, it has been possible to write a book that masterfully mixes two such different and powerful subjects like science and football. Two prologues, one from the world of science (Carlos Pedrós-Alió, scientist and writer) and the other from the world of football (Ibrahim Afellay, former FC Barcelona player and international with the Netherlands), complete a rigorous and fun book, which achieves the fusion of science and football, two topics that either don't raise any interest or produce passion.