Atletico Madrid players accept pay being slashed by 70%

Atletico Madrid's players on Thursday joined their Barcelona counterparts in agreeing to a 70 percent pay cut to help the La Liga club face the financial impact of football's suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement, Atletico said that the reduction regards the "coaches and players of the men's first team, women's first team and Atletico Madrid B" for the duration of the crisis in Spain, which has been hit particularly hard by the spread of Covid-19.

The club had already announced last week that they had asked labour authorities to slash player pay through a partial unemployment scheme.

Atletico added that an agreement with the first team will enable the club to supplement the salaries of the 430 staff put on partial unemployment.

"The first team will contribute half of the necessary amount and the members of the club's Management Committee, made up of the CEO and the directors of the different areas, the other half," the statement said.

On Monday, Lionel Messi announced that his Barca team-mates had agreed to the same pay cut, and that they would also supplement the salaries of the club's employees.

On Thursday, Spain announced that the coronavirus death toll had topped 10 000 people, the world's second highest total after Italy.