The Mayor of Milan Beppe Sala claims it would be ‘a huge mistake’ for Inter and Milan to build their new stadiums outside the city limits, explaining why those projects could be doomed to failure.
Sala is reportedly going to be joined by both clubs in their legal action against the Ministry of Culture to revoke the order protecting the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in San Siro.
That law is the same one used to protect structures of historic interest and architectural importance.
That verdict from the TAR tribunal in Lombardy is due on November 21.
Meanwhile, Milan have proposed their project in San Donato Milanese, while Inter are planning an arena in Rozzano, both on the outskirts of the city.
“The clubs can legitimately go and build the stadiums where they see fit, but I personally see it as a huge mistake for them not to make the stadium in Milan,” said Mayor Sala.
“I think that a stadium outside of Milan is simply not viable, because how many police has Rozzano even got, and can they deploy 100 of them when there’s a match? I think a lot of rubbish is being talked.
“Among those lies is that the clubs can guarantee security, which is completely untrue. They cannot do it. I think it’s a huge error, but on the other hand they can recriminate that we were slow and allowed the limits to be placed on San Siro. However, I don’t want to consider this game over.”
Milan are already facing these problems, as there were so many protests at a public meeting to discuss their new stadium this week that police had to be called.
They were also presented with a petition of over 1,300 locals who do not want the stadium to be built in their community.
“There would be difficulties in San Donato, because the metropolitan line ends 1.5km from the site and they cannot have parking lots in the green belt. I simply invite the clubs to reconsider.”