On Sunday afternoon, Juventus’ players casually walked on the field of their Allianz Stadium and started the pre-game warmups for their scheduled Seria A match that day. However, there was a slight issue. They didn’t have anyone to play, as their opponents Napoli failed to show up.
Instead of Allianz Stadium, Napoli players were hundreds of miles away in quarantine and with a travel ban on their hands. Italian authorities didn’t allow the team to travel after midfielders Piotr Zielinski and Eljif Elmas tested positive for coronavirus.
Napoli received the notice earlier on Sunday and immediately reached out to Seria A for match postponement. After being rejected by the league, the team then contacted Juventus. The Turin club, badly needing points after a weak start of the season, refused to show compassion.
Reportedly, Seria A will now side with Juve and award the team a 3-0 win while Napoli will have one point deducted for failure to show up.
“De Laurentiis (Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis) sent me a message asking for the game to be postponed and I replied that, as always, Juventus will follow the rules,” said Juve’s president Andrea Agnelli said. “If we don’t, we are failing as citizens rather than sportsmen.”
