Serie A at risk of cancellation – Marotta
Inter Milan chief executive Giuseppe Marotta admits the Serie A season could be cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
At least 29 people have died in Italy after contracting coronavirus with more than 1,100 confirmed cases.
The contagion first hit the country on February 20, initially in the northern regions but has now spread to other parts of Italy.
Serie A confirmed on Saturday that five games, which were due to take place this weekend, were to be postponed.
The top of the table clash between Juventus and Inter Milan was one of those five matches to be called off.
It’s the second game involving Inter that has been postponed over the past two weeks after their encounter with Sampdoria last Sunday was pulled by the authorities.
Marotta believes that, with an already busy fixture list, any further postponements could risk the entire season being wiped.
“If more matches are called off then, yes, we run that risk,” Marotta told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“The balance of the championship has been altered. It’s a distorted tournament. You just need to think of injuries and suspensions. And there is the psychological aspect when you look at the standings.”
As a result of back-to-back weekend’s off, Inter have fallen eight points adrift of leaders Lazio, while they trail second-placed Juventus by six points.
Inter are expected to return to action on Wednesday to face Napoli in the second leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final.
However, it’s understood Napoli, who beat Torino on home soil on Sunday, have requested for the game to be moved to May to allow Juventus and Inter to play their league match.
Breaking: #Napoli request the two #CoppaItalia semi-finals be postponed to May, playing #JuveInter on Wednesday instead. #SerieA #Juventus #FCIM #CoronavirusItalia pic.twitter.com/mD8A3BF4Ir
— footballitalia (@footballitalia) March 1, 2020
It’s not clear if next Sunday’s Serie A encounter with Sassuolo at the San Siro will go ahead.
