Brescia defender Daniele Gastaldello has claimed the solution is to cancel the championship and not ‘force’ the resumption of football, even if it means his side will relegate to Serie B.
The Rondinelle captain has claimed the risk is too high for the players involved and the conditions will not be right for football during the Italian summer.
“I continue to stick to my idea; to finish the championship is forcing it in my opinion,” he told Radio Anch’io Sport. “It’s risking the safety of the players.
Brescia defender Daniele Gastaldello has claimed the solution is to cancel the championship and not ‘force’ the resumption of football, even if it means his side will relegate to Serie B.
The Rondinelle captain has claimed the risk is too high for the players involved and the conditions will not be right for football during the Italian summer.
“I continue to stick to my idea; to finish the championship is forcing it in my opinion,” he told Radio Anch’io Sport. “It’s risking the safety of the players.
“Playing so many games with high temperatures will not be easy. Playing at 5:30pm is a scandalous thing, it’s not feasible.”
And the 36-year-old claims the play-off hypothesis shouldn’t be an option either, as the rules change midways through the season.
“I don’t agree, because the regulation would change. Many sports have stopped, we risk ruining the next championship too.
“At the end of the season, there will then be the European Championship. There’s a lot of risk, we aren’t machines.
“Our physique has been stopped for more than two months. It’s not like in the summer, since we are preparing for a month and a half after a month’s break. You will risk major injuries.”
The veteran wants Italy to prioritise health before sports and highlights that there are still regulations that needs clarifying regarding player wages and expiring contracts.
“The expiring contracts are a problem. We players are privileged but there are also players from lower categories who earn minimum wage and must maintain a family.
“They must be paid and not late. I think we shouldn’t generalise the whole world of football. They’re not all like Cristiano Ronaldo.”
Brescia are from Lombardy, one of the hardest hit regions in Italy, and the captain has pointed out that people wonder why they even think about resuming play.
“In the rest of Italy, perhaps you don’t perceive what happened in Lombardy. We went through a tough period, many people died. People ask me why you think about restarting and I understand them, they have lost loved ones.
“Everything has to start again but as I said before this championship, in my opinion, we are forcing it to return.
“It will be a different football that starts again, it won’t be like at the beginning of March. Like, when we played behind closed doors. We will not embrace each other after scoring, this is not football.
He concludes: “The solution is to stop. Then we would have time to decide. If we are the bottom in the table, it’s correct that we go down. Football needs to be a passion for everyone again. At this moment, I’m seeing players losing that passion, there are other interests.”