The signs were all there, and it now seems confirmed that Napoli will not be playing their highly anticipated match against Juventus in Turin.
Napoli had been told by ASL, the local health authority, that they will not travel to Turin to face Juventus due to the detection of two positive coronavirus cases in the Napoli squad.
The consequence of Napoli not showing up at the Juventus Stadium to play the match is a 3-0 win handed to the hosts due to the visitor’s inability to present their squad on the match day.
The defense lawyers of Napoli have officially asked the Serie A board to postpone the match, but the board have rejected the club’s proposal, claiming that the ASL has no jurisdiction or influence over football in Italy.
While the decision of the club to not show up due to the two positive cases is understandable, the board’s decision of not postponing the game is a tad bit too harsh for the Partenopei.
The official statement released by the Serie A board, according to renowned Italian journalist Nicolo Schira is as follows:
“In the past few days, the League Council approved the regulation to be adopted in the event of multiple positivity, which can lead to the postponement of matches only when certain conditions occur which, at the moment, do not apply to the case of Napoli”.
The coronavirus cases are not new, as the club were willing to play the match on Saturday, but have now pulled out from travelling to the Juventus Stadium to face the reigning Serie A champions.
With the 3-0 loss set to be given to them when 45 minutes past the scheduled kick-off time have passed at the Juventus Stadium, Napoli are scheduled to face Atalanta in another high-profile clash on the 17th of this month, after the International break.
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