Take the whole system down
It seems that one of the options is to keep the fixtures but delay the whole league with 1 week.
Marotta: 'Lega Serie A take the blame'
Inter director Beppe Marotta reiterates the
Lega Serie A “must accept the blame” for the fixture chaos, as clubs are refusing to play behind closed doors.
There continues to be a disconnect between the Government decrees to control the spread of Coronavirus by banning large public gatherings and the Lega Serie A insistence on postponing games rather than play them without a crowd.
Postponing Juventus-Inter, which was due to kick off this evening, rather than play behind closed doors has set a precedent now and none of the other clubs will back down.
“There were discussions during the week, but what is so strange is that on Thursday the Lega Serie A released a statement confirming five games would be played behind closed doors, then in under 48 hours changed what the Minister for Sport had asked for,” Marotta told Telelombardia this evening.
“The Lega must accept the blame, because before making such an important decision, they should at the very least have called an extraordinary meeting of the clubs, which is now happening on Wednesday – another anomaly.
“Nobody wants to play behind closed doors, but I still maintain that it was indispensable considering the situation. The President of the Lega Serie A had the right to make the decision, but because he didn’t consult anyone first, he must then accept the criticism and responsibility that comes with that.”
There are reports the entire Serie A season could simply be shuffled along by one week, so moving Juventus-Inter to Monday March 9.
“That is one of the options, we asked the Lega to elaborate two or three new options to present to the group. The important thing is that the regularity of the tournament is assured. If we can’t play behind closed doors this Sunday, then we can’t think of doing it next weekend.”
Marotta: "The proposal was impractical and almost provocative. Only Juventus' public could have attended and that would have gone against the logic of protecting the public's health by assuming the disappearance of the Coronavirus in the span of 24 hours"
Since this produced so many recations, please allow me to share the whole statement
Marotta: 'Almost provocative'
Beppe Moratta has explained why Inter reacted to the decision made by Serie A and claims that there are "three reasons" to not play Juventus on Monday.
“Playing Juve-Inter tonight was impracticable, almost provocative hypothesis,” he told La Repubblica. “They aired it informally on Friday evening, but we didn’t want to take it into consideration for at least three reasons.
“First of all, we would have gone against the logic of protecting the public health. I don’t think that the coronavirus alarm would have stopped within 24 hours.
“Secondly, because the Stadium would’ve only been open to Juventus fans and this would have created further controversy.
“Thirdly, because we would have to postpone Juve-Milan of the Coppa Italia to Thursday, overlapping it with Napoli-Inter. At that point, we would have had the grievances of Rai, who are paying money for the TV rights.”
He said that Inter wouldn’t want to play the match on Wednesday or Thursday and to reschedule the Coppa Italia in May, but not in spite.
“We have not officially received any proposals in this sense,” he added. “I would have returned it to the sender. To protect uniformity.
“A very strong decision has been made and it was very clear. On Thursday: the game will be played behind closed doors.
“Everyone had adapted, out of a sense of responsibility. Saturday’s change blew everything up, creating a calendar problem that has a very difficult solution. Closed doors were the only tools that could have guaranteed the regularity of the League.
“I don’t see it any other way. At this point, however, it looks like this tool can’t be used anymore. It has been delegitimised by the decision the League took without consulting us, without meeting any advisors and assembly, without giving precise reasons and creating a situation of unease, imbalance, disparity between the clubs concerned.”
About the solutions the Inter director has revealed that they will meet and discuss with the League but revealed how the situation has become very complicated after last weekend.
“We will talk about it on Wednesday at the meeting, but
the championship is at risk of a collapse,” he said. “It will be important to gather and discuss it in the open. The matches remain conditioned by the provision the government has taken on Lombardy, Emilia Romagna and Veneto, but it would be an incongruity not to validate closed doors a week and then to validate it the following one.
“It would be correct to keep the temporal scan of the days, therefore the games postponed last week should take precedence. Playing Juventus-Inter next Monday, even if we face Getafe in the Europa League on Thursday? We will discuss it the day after tomorrow.”
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