Juve-Napoli, the surreal non-game: the referee sends everyone home. Agnelli: “De Laurentiis has asked for a postponement, but we follow the rules”

the butler at the turnstiles, the big headlights on, journalists in Press room and on the side of the field, cameramen instead, referee me linesmen to test the tightness of the networks of the two doors or the photocell against i phantom goal. But then No player that lines up in the middle of the field and only a few that appear to to chat, dressed “long”, with the suit. L ‘Allianz Stadium of Torino He lived a completely surreal abundant hour waiting for what was known to happen for a whole day: the Naples he wouldn’t show up to play the game with Juventus. After 45 minutes, according to the regulations, the referee Daniele’s Duties declared the match over and then sent the report to the sports judge who, according to the rules, will decide 3-0 in favor of Juve. Blocked byAsl After a series of infections, the entire Napoli team remained in Campania and neither Juve nor Lega Calcio have ever been tempted to postpone it. For several reasons. The two main ones are that cases like these, as the League of A pointed out, are foreseen by all protocols signed with Football Association which, among other things, have allowed races to be held in similar situations in recent weeks and, secondly, a postponement of this type would have set a precedent that would have risked blowing the calendar to pieces and it is known how difficult it is to go through the Calendars of the different competitions (league, European cups, national cup and next year also the European ones postponed this year).

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Juventus Stadium 2

The president of Napoli Aurelio De Laurentiis During the day he explicitly asked the president of Juve, Andrea Agnelli, to postpone the match. “We sent each other a message, I replied that Juventus, as always, complies with the regulations,” Agnelli said. SkySport. “It is a request that can be legitimate – added Agnelli – but there are rules, as in any industry, and we comply with them. There are regulations and if we do not comply with the regulations we make mistakes as citizens, rather than as athletes ”. To a question from Sandro Piccinini about what he, Agnelli, would have done if the ASL of Turin had sent a note similar to that of the Naples health company to Azzurri, the Juve president replied: “I would have gone absolutely. I don’t think ASL would have issued that statement. If it intervenes, it means there has been some breach of the protocol. Otherwise, the ASL has the circular of the ministry like all of us ”.

So ASL has gone astray? The case is, continues the president of Juventus, that “we are not facing a new case, Juve-Napoli yes the anomaly. In recent weeks and also this week, games have been played with teams that have had positive cases in the group of teams, both at home and abroad ”. Or do we discover that despite the protocols, the football season has a somewhat fragile foundation? “It’s not about the football system, the protocol was studied by the Federation with the government, it is a living document – Agnelli responds – Moving forward we discover Aspects that we had not assumed At the table, the important thing is to have that spirit of desire to play and sports fidelity that is the basis of everything. The cases will be identified each time and the document will be perfected, it is clear that the priority is the protection of public health, in this case we have a protocol that allows us to carry out our work ”.

What happened? According to De Laurentiis, the two Neapolitan ASLs (1 and 2 north) blocked the exit from Napoli: “We could not leave, the ASL took into consideration the possibility of the derogation provided by the protocol, but did not give us the green light.” the match must be postponed, ”the Italian president wrote to Lega Calcio. In particular, ASL Napoli Nord had written to the club that “taking into account that the players in question, traveling to Turin, would inevitably have contact with a plurality of third parties (airport personnel, crew and passengers on the flight, hotel staff retreat, Juventus employees and members) it is believed that conditions do not exist that allow the movement of close contacts in complete safety. “

De Laurentiis had also recalled that theAsl Naples Center it had confirmed “full agreement with what was reported by the cabinet of the president of the Campania Regional Council according to which the recipients of today’s ASL note are obliged not to leave home”. “Evidence, clear and uninterpretableDe Laurentiis wrote to the Lega asking for a postponement. But that did not happen. And now it seems inevitable, in case of defeat at the table, the appeal to the sports court or even to the Tar. It does not help the position adopted by the Scientific Technical Committee that in the afternoon wanted to specify that “the CTS, with respect to the case of soccer players positive to infection by the Sars-Cov-2 virus, recalls the legal obligations established for the containment of the infection for viruses and reaffirms the responsibility of the competent Local Health Authority and, to the extent of their competence, the team doctor for the players and the competent doctor for the other workers “. So ASL has done its thing. It remains to be seen who is right: the Soccer League and the Juve who say that everything follows the protocols, the Naples that could still go, theAsl that blocked it. Or if there is an error in the protocol.