Juventus clash with Inter and AC Milan-Genoa moved to Sunday after coronavirus postponements
The games that were cancelled last week due to the outbreak of the illness have been rearranged for March 8 and 9
Juventus versus Inter and AC Milan’s match with Genoa have been scheduled for this Sunday, Serie A has confirmed.
Six games in Italy’s top flight were postponed last weekend due to the ongoing spread of the coronavirus in the country.
Italy has witnessed the most serious outbreak of the disease in Europe so far with at least 107 people now having succumbed to the coronavirus and more than 3,000 cases confirmed so far. Around 3,200 people have died worldwide since the outbreak began in China last year, with over 90,000 infected.
More teams
Along with the games featuring Juve, Inter, Milan and Genoa, matches between Parma and SPAL, Udinese and Fiorentina, and Sassuolo and Brescia were also called off.
Monday’s meeting between Sampdoria and Hellas Verona was also cancelled.
Lega Serie A initially planned to move the matches to Wednesday, May 13, which forced the Coppa Italia final to be rescheduled for May 20.
However, it was confirmed on Friday that five of the matches are to take place on March 8, with Milan facing Genoa at 15:00 local time (14:00 GMT), while Juve against Inter is at 20:45 local time (19:45 GMT).
Sassuolo versus Brescia has been moved to Monday.
All the games are to be played behind closed doors following a government decree that said sporting events are to be played without fans present until April 3.
Meanwhile, Juventus’ clash with AC Milan and Inter’s match with Napoli in the second legs of the Coppa Italia semi-finals were also postponed as a result of the coronavirus.
Inter president Steven Zhang criticised Serie A president Paolo Dal Pino over his handling of the crisis on Thursday, accusing him in an Instagram post of “always putting the public health as secondary consideration” and calling him “the biggest and darkest clown I have ever seen”.
Inter chief executive Beppe Marotta has also been critical of the league’s response to the issue and suggested that the season might not finish on time because of the disruption.
Italian champions Juve are second in the Serie A table, two points behind Lazio, who have played a game more.
Inter are six points behind Maurizio Sarri’s side, although they have two games in hand on the leaders.