SERIE A
EMPTY STADIUM OVER CORONAVIRUS AS SERIE A GIANTS, JUVENTUS INTER CLASH ON SUNDAY
A ghostly atmosphere awaits the biggest game of the Serie A season on Sunday (March 8) as Juventus and Inter Milan prepare for a title tussle behind closed doors while Italy grapples with the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
Just 500 people will witness Antonio Conte return to Juve, where he won three Serie A titles as a coach and the Champions League as a player.
The loudest noise at a game that would have attracted a raucous sell-out 40,000 crowd at the Allianz Stadium in Turin will be the voices of screaming players as the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku battle it out for Italy’s two best-supported clubs.
The coronavirus has now killed at least 148 people in Italy, the highest number of deaths in any European country.
Serie A on Friday listed a host of new rules that clubs must abide by, including the installation of scanners to check the temperature of the restricted number of authorised people entering the stadium.
Journalists at games will have to keep at least 2m apart, while on Sunday there will be no mixed zone or press conferences before or after the match.
The Juventus v Inter match, known in Italy as the Derby d’Italia for its historic importance, was supposed to be played last weekend but was postponed as the Covid-19 disease caused havoc across the country.
That decision sparked a row between Serie A and Inter, who were livid at what they saw as completely random scheduling decisions – leading to Inter’s Chinese chairman Steven Zhang calling the league’s president Paolo Dal Pino a “clown”.
Zhang’s outburst irritated the other clubs, who were fed up of Inter criticising any decision the league made in a chaotic situation, with Napoli among those praising Dal Pino’s work.
“First Inter demanded to play behind closed doors, then with fans, and then they wanted to play their match with Sampdoria (postponed the previous week) before Juventus,” said Roma CEO Guido Fienga.
“What we all want is to protect people’s health but also ensure the season progresses.”
The league had put the game at Turin’s Allianz Stadium back over concerns of broadcasting a marquee match – originally set to be played at the same time as La Liga’s El Clasico – against the backdrop of an empty stadium, hoping that virus-related restrictions would be lifted.
However, Wednesday’s government decree which forced all sporting events in Italy behind closed doors until at least April 3 meant that the matches had to be played with no fans or risk the season not finishing.
The clash is one of six postponed matches being played this weekend as Serie A tries to put some order to a schedule that has been thrown into chaos by the spread of the virus.
After this weekend Inter will still have to play Sampdoria at San Siro in order to recover their fixtures and that game is yet to be assigned a date due to the difficulty of finding a space in Inter’s schedule.
They still have the second leg of their Italian Cup semi-final against Napoli to play after both last four clashes were postponed this week and are one of the favourites for the Europa League, leaving them potentially with another eight fixtures to fulfil on top of the 14 league matches they have left to play between now and May 24.
All this confusion has left Inter’s title challenge in limbo. They are eight points behind leaders Lazio, who up to now have been unaffected by the calendar changes and so are not in action this weekend, and six points behind Juventus.
Maurizio Sarri’s Juve side will be at a disadvantage without their home fans at a ground that has been a fortress in an otherwise underwhelming season, with 11 wins and one draw from 12 matches in Turin.
They have looked far from convincing in recent weeks, with defeats at Napoli and Hellas Verona and poor displays in beating relegation fodder Brescia and SPAL.
However Inter last won away at Juve in 2012, their only win at the Allianz Stadium since their rivals moved there in 2011, and the eerie atmosphere is likely to leave fans with an underwhelming spectacle.
“There’s a risk that the minds of the players automatically switch into training ground mode,” sports psychologist Alberto Cei told the Gazzetta Dello Sport.
“I’d forget about home and away and look more towards which players think autonomously, (and which) aren’t affected by the surrounding environment.”
-AFP
Croatia captain Luka Modric, who left Real Madrid after 13 years at the LaLiga club, has completed his move to AC Milan on a one-year deal with an option to extend until June 2027, the Serie A side said on Monday.
The midfielder’s arrival was confirmed by newly-appointed Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri earlier this month.
“Very happy to be here to start a new chapter in my career,” said Modric, who turns 40 in September, in an Instagram video shared by Milan.
Milan said Modric will wear the number 14 shirt, which he previously wore during his four years at English side Tottenham Hotspur to honour Dutch great Johan Cruyff.
“It’s an immense honour for them to compare me to (Cruyff)… I wore the no. 14 at Tottenham in honour of him, and because the no. 10 wasn’t available,” Modric had said after winning the Ballon d’Or award in 2018.
Modric, regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, announced in May that he would leave Real after the Club World Cup. He has made 597 appearances for the Spanish club, winning 28 trophies including four LaLiga and six Champions League titles.
He played his last game for Real on Wednesday, coming on as a second-half substitute during a 4-0 loss to Paris St Germain in the Club World Cup semi-finals.
“It’s a bitter end… he’s a legend of world football and of Real Madrid. He’ll be remembered for many more good things than for the 25 minutes he played today,” Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso said after the match.
Modric, considered Croatia’s greatest player of all time, has represented the country a record 188 times, scoring 28 goals. He won the Golden Ball at World Cup 2018, where he led Croatia to the final for the first time.
He won the Ballon d’Or in December that year, becoming the first player other than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to win the prestigious annual award since 2007.
Modric’s arrival reinforces a Milan midfield that also features Youssouf Fofana, Yunus Musah and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, with Samuele Ricci joining from Torino earlier this month.
Milan, who failed to qualify for a European competition after finishing eighth in the Italian top-flight league last season, begin their Serie A campaign against newly-promoted Cremonese on August 23.
-Reuters
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Pope Leo XIV welcomed Italy’s newly crowned Serie A champions Napoli to the Vatican on Tuesday, joking about his own soccer allegiances.
Napoli won their fourth “Scudetto” on Friday with a 2-0 home victory over Cagliari, edging out Inter Milan by one point in a nail-biting end to the season.
The team, captained by Italian international Giovanni Di Lorenzo, arrived for their papal audience a day after a triumphant open-top bus parade through central Naples.
“The press says I am an AS Roma fan, but you are welcome! This is what the press says. Not everything you read in the press is true,” the pope said, according to a transcript.
Leo, the first pope to come from the U.S., follows and practices sports, including tennis. People who know him have described him to the media as an AS Roma supporter.
Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis gave him a blue Napoli jersey signed by players, bearing the number 10 and his name in Italian, “Papa Leone XIV”.
“You are a number 10, so you are a great striker”, De Laurentiis said. Leo replied with a chuckle and a simple “thank you”.
Coach Antonio Conte, whom De Laurentiis introduced as “deeply Catholic”, knelt down and kissed the pope’s hand, before Leo told him he had seen him many times on TV.
In a short speech, the pontiff stressed the importance of team spirit and collaboration, and sport’s educational value, especially for young people.
Winning comes “at the end of a long journey, where what matters the most is not a one-time exploit or the extraordinary performance of one champion”, he said.
“The championship is won by the team, and when I say ‘team’ I mean the players, the coach with the whole squad, and the club,” he added.
Leo ended his remarks giving his blessings to players and club officials, and offering congratulations, also on behalf of his personal cook.
“She is from Naples and she says: best wishes! She would like to be here too, Mrs Rosa, (she is) a big fan”, the pope said.
-Reuters
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A second-half goal by substitute Ibrahim Sulemana earned Atalanta a 2-1 home win over AS Roma in Serie A on Monday, securing Champions League qualification for Gian Piero Gasperini’s side.
Sulemana sealed the three points for Atalanta in the 76th minute, scoring with a low strike from just outside the area, after Roma midfielder Bryan Cristante cancelled out an early opener by Ademola Lookman.
Atalanta, who fell behind in the title race, sit third in the standings on 71 points and have a seven-point cushion over fourth-placed Juventus and Lazio in fifth with two games left to play.
Roma, who failed to capitalise on Lazio and Juventus dropping points in a 1-1 stalemate on Saturday, are sixth with 63 points.
Atalanta snapped the visitors’ impressive unbeaten league run of 19 games, with Claudio Ranieri’s side previously having been defeated mid-December at Como.
Things started off brightly for Atalanta as Lookman stroked in past Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar to put them in front after nine minutes.
Charles De Ketelaere dribbled past the Roma defence to set the Nigerian up with a precise low cross inside the box and the striker controlled the ball to score inside the right post.
It was Atalanta’s 100th goal this season across all competitions.
De Ketelaere had two good chances to double the advantage but Roma midfielder Cristante levelled for the visitors instead, netting with a flicked header after the half-hour mark.
Things slowed down significantly after a lively first half until Roma were awarded a penalty after an hour of play, following a clash between Atalanta’s Mario Pasalic and Manu Kone.
The referee, however, overturned his decision after consulting VAR.
Sulemana eventually restored the lead for Atalanta in the 76th minute, scoring with a low strike from just outside the area — a goal that stood after a VAR check for a potential offside.
Roma host AC Milan next weekend before visiting mid-table Torino in their bid to qualify for Europe’s elite club competition for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign.
Atalanta travel to Genoa on Sunday before welcoming lowly Parma in their final fixture.
-Reuters
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