Juventus announced the third positive case ahead of the rescheduled match against Napoli, meaning the giants' clash is again overshadowed by coronavirus.
Juventus announced the third positive case ahead of the rescheduled match against Napoli, meaning the giants' clash is again overshadowed by coronavirus.
The two teams fight for a place in the all important race for Champions League football. Gennaro Gattuso’s job at the Partenopei was uncertain ahead of the match in Naples earlier this year, whilst Andrea Pirlo is going through similar pressure ahead of the rescheduled first leg.
The local health authority in Turin claimed the match was 'not at risk' after the recent coronavirus cases at Juventus, with three players testing positive after returning from international duties.
Leonardo Bonucci, Merih Demiral and Federico Bernardeschi have coronavirus, as Napoli announced yesterday that Piotr Zielinski and the three Italy internationals in the squad had tested negative.
The two teams are set to recover the match from Serie A Week 3, initially scheduled for October last year, when Napoli were blocked from travelling by the ASL of Naples.
Napoli didn’t make the trip to Turin for the match scheduled for October 4, 2020, because they had two players test positive for COVID-19.
Piotr Zielinski and Eljif Elmas had contracted the virus and the club argued it has been banned from travelling by the local health authority, which urged the team to self-isolate as a precaution.
But Juventus and the Lega Serie A pointed out that two cases didn’t warrant pulling out of the match.
The Partenopei lodged an appeal and in December the CONI Sports Guarantee Board decided the game had to be rescheduled and the point penalty was revoked.
The match was scheduled for March 17 this year, but the Lega Serie A agreed when the two sides requested to push the game to April 7.
The coronavirus controversies has overshadowed the match between the two rivals at the Allianz Stadium, but this time around, the crisis has hit the opposite camp, already going through a difficult moment on the pitch.