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Napoli faces a 3-0 defeat by Serie A by failing to show up for their match at Juventus after the local health authority told players to stay home when two team members tested positive for coronavirus. .
With Serie A officials refusing to suspend the match, Juventus arrived at the Allianz stadium in Turin an hour before the scheduled kick-off time, while Italian media reported no sign of Napoli.
Under Serie A rules, Juventus would earn a 3-0 victory in the match, which was to start at 8.45pm local time (7.45pm BST).
A Napoli spokesman confirmed to Reuters that the team had been isolated by the health authority (ASL) after two players, midfielders Piotr Zielinski and Eljif Elmas, tested positive in the last four days. He said they would challenge any decision to lose the game.
Juventus arrives at the game on their team bus
A Naples ASL official confirmed in a television interview that the Naples players had been ordered to stay home.
“We have never expressly said that they cannot play, but clearly it is a consequence,” he said.
Previously, Serie A said that the ASL had not taken into account the health protocol agreed between the country’s Ministry of Health and Sports and the soccer authorities.
This establishes that if the players test positive, the rest of the team can still train and play again, as long as they are retested and negative. The statement added that several games had been played this season after the teams had one or more players in the test.
“The protocol establishes certain rules that cannot be deviated, which allow league matches to be played even in the event of a positive result, displaying players who have tested negative,” he said.
Juventus, who said on Saturday they would go out on the pitch, stressed that they were preparing for the match.
The club simply said “Jornada” in a Twitter post accompanied by a photograph of forward Cristiano Ronaldo and the time and place of the match.
Last Sunday, Napoli hosted Genoa, where 17 players tested positive for Covid-19 in the last week. Genoa’s home game against Torino on Saturday was postponed.
Serie A has ruled that matches must continue as long as each team has a minimum of 13 players available and that teams unable to play would suffer a loss.
However, teams have the right to request a postponement without losing the right if 10 players become infected in a week.
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