Serie A, soccer clubs clash in Italy amid coronavirus chaos

Amid a global health crisis Italian soccer teams and Serie A’s governing body are squabbling with each or about when to play games, with Inter Milan chief executive Giuseppe Marotta saying season even runs risk of being unable to finish.

Five games scheduled in top tier of Italian league this weekend were postponed on Saturday in an attempt to contain coronavirus outbreak.

“ decision was down to me, but clubs involved were contacted by telephone, so we kw everyone’s positions which were difficult to reconcile,” Paolo Dal Pi, president of governing body Lega Serie A, said on Sunday.

“I invite everyone to think as Serie A, t as individual clubs.”

Lega Serie A anunced on Sunday that it has called an emergency assembly for Wednesday to “examine consequences governmental measures related to coronavirus have had on fixture list.”

re have been 29 deaths from COVID-19 illness in Italy and more than 1,100 people have tested positive, almost all in country’s rth.

With clusters of virus infections in Lombardy and Veneto regions, biggest fixture lost from Serie A program was Juventus’ home game Sunday against Inter Milan in Turin — a match kwn as Derby d’Italia, or Italy’s derby.

That match and or four games affected were set to be played in a stadium with fans to comply with ban on sporting events imposed by government. That ban is set to end in three of six regions in which it has been imposed on Sunday at midnight, with Piedmont (which includes Turin) one of three to have restrictions lifted.

Marotta attacked league’s decision but Dal Pi said on Sunday that Inter had refused ar option offered to clubs.

“On Friday we proposed to Inter to move match against Juventus to Monday night to be able to play it with fans present,” Dal Pi said. “Inter categorically refused to go out onto field, so it should assume its own responsibilities and t talk about sportsmanship or a falsified championship.

“Marotta represents needs of Inter, I look after general interests of all of Serie A, which unfortunately means daily conflicts of interests tied to each and every club. I have to promote Italian soccer and its im to world, transmitting games in empty stadiums would have been a terrible calling card for country.”

Derby d’Italia, which could also be a title-decider, is w due to be played May 13.

It was second straight week that Inter had seen a match postponed because of new coronavirus. A new date for Sampdoria has yet to be scheduled, with Inter also still involved in Italian Cup and Europa League. Also, Thursday’s Europa League match at San Siro was played without fans.

Inter fans protested outside Serie A headquarters on Sunday, unveiling two banners. One read: “Shameful Lega. You should be ashamed of yourselves,” with Juventus logo inserted in place of two “i” letters in original Italian. second banner read: “Respect for football. Respect for fans.”

Marotta was asked in an interview by Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport about suggestion that Juventus pressure was behind decision to postpone match.

“I’m t very interested in that discussion,” he said. “I say that whole situation was dealt with badly. It should’ve been handled much quicker. championship has been falsified. It’s been unbalanced. Inter has been damd, our fixture list for May is incredible.

“What will happen from w on worries me ... it should have been same for all teams this round, even postponing whole round.”

Marotta was also asked if re was risk season wouldn’t be able to finish.

“Yes,” he said. “If more matches are called off n, yes.”

If Inter’s match at Juventus had gone ahead in an empty stadium, it would have taken place at same time on Sunday as “clásico” between Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain.

“After decisions that were made, re should t be even shadow of suspicion of uniformity of Serie A,” Italy’s sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora said on Sunday. “We gave Lega Serie A two options: postpone or play without fans. Lega opted to postpone, also to avoid having spectacle of empty stadiums.

“w it’s up to Lega to sort this out, even taking apart fixture list apart and putting it back toger if needs be, to balance calendar in next few weeks. As minister, I will ask that it does maximum to guarantee each club equal treatment.”

(Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP)