The Lega Calcio Serie A confirms that tonight’s Juventus–Napoli clash is on and that the Azzurri’s request to postpone the game has been rejected.
“Following Napoli’s official request [to postpone the game] the Lega Calcio states that the current rules aim to guarantee the health of everybody, the equal treatment for all clubs and the respect of the principals of sportsmanship.
The Lega Calcio Serie A confirms that tonight’s Juventus-Napoli clash is on and that the Azzurri’s request to postpone the game has been rejected.
“Following Napoli’s official request [to postpone the game] the Lega Calcio states that the current rules aim to guarantee the health of everybody, the equal treatment for all clubs and the respect of the principals of sportsmanship.
“The statement of ASL Campania asks fiduciary isolation for the close contacts of Piotr Zielinski. Therefore, in this case it is applied the FIGC protocol agreed with the Technical-Scientific Committee and integrated with the notice of the Italian Health Minister on June 18, 2020. That was not taken into account in the email sent by the vice-head of cabinet of the Regione Campania.
“The same rule was applied to other cases in the past and, for instance, it allowed Torino to play against Atalanta, Milan’s trip to Crotone, Genoa’s away game at the San Paolo vs. Napoli and Atalanta’s home match against Cagliari.
“Even if there are cases of players in the group who tested positive for Coronavirus, the protocol provides certain and mandatory rules that allow to play games fielding all the footballers who tested negative through exams undergone within the time range given by the health authorities.
“The Council of the Lega Calcio did also approve a set of rules that can lead to the postponement of game only with several cases of players positive to the virus. These conditions can’t be applied to the current Napoli case at the moment and there are no decisions of the local authorities that prevent the game from being played.”
The Lega Serie A protocol is the same as the UEFA one, so as long as a team has 13 players available including a goalkeeper, the game can go ahead.
Juventus have been following their regular matchday schedule today. The team had a training session at the Continassa in the morning before having lunch. The group will leave for the Allianz Stadium at 7.30 local time.
The Bianconeri will show up at the Stadium tonight. If Napoli won’t be there, the referee will wait 45 minutes and then blow the final whistle. In that case, Napoli that could be handed a 3-0 defeat by default.