With Atalanta and Fiorentina still on track to reach the European semi-finals, their rescheduled Serie A meeting might have to be postponed until June.

The fixture was meant to be played at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo on March 17, but had to be called off at the last minute when Viola director Joe Barone collapsed in the team hotel.

He died two days later in hospital in Milan.

That Serie A Week 29 game needs to be played eventually, but finding a date is proving to be extremely difficult.

This is because both Fiorentina and Atalanta are both in the quarter-finals of UEFA tournaments and the Coppa Italia semi-finals too.

Curiously, the Coppa Italia semi-final is against each other, Fiorentina having won the first leg 1-0.

Atalanta won the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final 3-0 away to Liverpool, while Fiorentina drew 0-0 at Viktoria Plzen in the Europa Conference League.

Finding a date is therefore very tricky, as if both teams were eliminated from Europe in the quarter-final stage, then in theory they could meet on May 1 or May 8.

If Atalanta are eliminated by Liverpool and Fiorentina reach the Conference League semi-finals, then May 22 could be an afternoon kick-off, as that night is the Europa League Final.

If it’s the other way round, then the afternoon of the Conference League Final on May 29 is the earliest date.

That would already be three days after the end of the Serie A season.

It is entirely possible that the Week 29 game won’t be played until Sunday June 2, a week after the rest of the Serie A teams have already finished.

This could have a real knock-on effect, as Atalanta and Fiorentina are in the thick of the race for European qualification.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *