As per a host of sources, Juventus’ meeting with Napoli on Sunday looks set to be called off, amid a bizarre situation at the Neapolitan club.
Serie A showdown
The headline fixture of the Serie A weekend was scheduled to take place in Turin tomorrow night.
Andrea Pirlo’s Juventus were pencilled in to take on Napoli, in a highly-anticipated clash, which would also see the Bianconeri boss face off against former teammate Gennaro Gattuso.
As things stand, the Partenopei sit 2nd in the Italian top-flight, having bagged 6 points from their opening two outings of the campaign.
Juve, on the other hand, have managed a win and a draw, the latter of which came last weekend in a hard-fought meeting with AS Roma.
As outlined above, however, if the latest word stemming from Italy this evening is to be believed, then, in a concerning piece of news for all associated with Serie A, Sunday’s Allianz Arena showdown appears to be in serious danger of not going ahead.
This comes following a small Covid-19 outbreak in Napoli’s squad.
Over the last 24 hours, both Piotr Zielinski and Elif Elmas, along with a member of the Partenopei’s staff, have returned positive coronavirus tests.
This has no doubt come as a major concern, with Gattuso’s men having faced off against Genoa, who now have 17 players in self isolation, in their previous outing.
Doubts, in turn, have been raised regarding whether or not it is safe for Napoli’s squad to leave Naples, with ASL, the local authority, having therefore blocked the club from travelling to Turin.
Looks like Juventus vs Napoli won’t be played tomorrow 😵 pic.twitter.com/h4p5DRP7Dr
— Italian Football TV (@IFTVofficial) October 3, 2020
This has raised yet another issue, amid a clash of opposing Covid-19 protocols.
The Lega Serie A have previously made it clear that they intend to fall in line with UEFA’s protocols – This dictates that clubs will take to the pitch to carry out their scheduled fixtures, as long as they have 13 players, including a goalkeeper, free of Covid.
The non-sporting regulations in place as per the ASL’s guidelines, however, read differently.
Juventus, for their part, have since made abundantly clear that they intend to line out as normal tomorrow night, in line with the Lega Serie A’s rules.
As such, a 3-0 forfeit on Napoli’s part could well be on the cards:
Juventus Football Club announces that the First Team will take to the field for the Juventus – Napoli match tomorrow at 20:45, as foreseen by the Serie A League calendar.
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) October 3, 2020
It is also worth noting that the authorities in Campania allowed Salernitana to leave the region for a meeting with Chievo earlier today, despite positive cases in the former’s squad.
Juve cases
News of the outbreak at Napoli, coincidentally, comes just hours after a pair of staff members at Juventus (albeit not ones who come into direct contact with Andrea Pirlo’s squad) also tested positive for Covid-19:
‘Juventus Football Club announces that, during the checks provided for by the protocol in force, two staff members tested positive for Covid 19.’
‘These are neither players nor members of the technical or medical staff, however, in compliance with the regulations and the protocol, the whole extended team, as of this moment, has gone into fiduciary isolation.’
Team in fiduciary isolationhttps://t.co/iVRUG23N4e pic.twitter.com/GWe5dRxHsj
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) October 3, 2020
