Napoli and Milan play against Juventus and Roma today, but are among the most affected clubs by injuries and COVID, along with Hellas Verona.
The Azzurri travelled to Turin yesterday without several regular starters: Victor Osimhen, Mario Rui, Alex Meret, Hirving Lozano and Kevin Malcuit have COVID, same as coach Luciano Spalletti.
Fabian Ruiz is injured, Kalidou Koulibaly and Zambo Anguissa are on Africa Cup of Nations duty. Piotr Zielinski, Amir Rrahmani and Stanis Lobotka have been ordered into quarantine as they haven’t yet had the booster, so they must self-isolate for a week even if they travelled to Turin with the team.
COVID Chaos: Napoli stars quarantined after travel, others wear masks against Juventus?
The situation is quite chaotic. Napoli are without their starting centre-backs (Rrahmani and Koulibaly), centre midfielders (Zielinski, Anguissa and Fabian Ruiz), and centre forward even if Osimhen has been out of action with a cheekbone injury for more than a month now.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo should start at centre-back with Juan Jesus with the young Alessandro Zanoli at right-back and Faouzi Ghoulam on the left. The latter hasn’t played an entire game in Serie A since February 2021.
Probable Napoli XI (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Zanoli, Di Lorenzo, Juan Jesus, Ghoulam; Demme, Elmas; Politano, Mertens, Insigne; Petagna.
Milan are not in a better situation ahead of their clash against Roma at 17.30 UK time.
They announced three COVID cases yesterday who are believed to be Fikayo Tomori, Alessio Romagnoli and Davide Calabria. With Simon Kjaer ruled out until the end of the season with a knee injury, Stefano Pioli is without his regular starters in centre defence, so Pierre Kalulu and Matteo Gabbia should get the nod against José Mourinho’s side today.
Even if the Rossoneri coach can count on Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ante Rebic and Rafael Leao up front, Franck Kessié, Fode Ballo-Touré and Ismael Bennacer are on international duty at the AFCON and are not available for today’s match.
Hellas Verona have eight players positive for COVID ahead of their match against Spezia, but they were given the green light to travel to the Stadio Picco for today’s match, which kicks off at 13.30 UK time.