Udinese confirm they “did everything possible” to avoid playing Fiorentina behind closed doors and force a postponement. “It would’ve penalised us.”
The Serie A match was postponed at around 11.00 GMT this morning, when it was meant to kick off at 17.00 GMT at the Dacia Arena.
This wasn’t the only game moved to May 13, as the same goes for Juventus–Inter, Milan–Genoa, Parma-SPAL and Sassuolo-Brescia.
Udinese confirm they “did everything possible” to avoid playing Fiorentina behind closed doors and force a postponement. “It would’ve penalised us.”
The Serie A match was postponed at around 11.00 GMT this morning, when it was meant to kick off at 17.00 GMT at the Dacia Arena.
This wasn’t the only game moved to May 13, as the same goes for Juventus-Inter, Milan-Genoa, Parma-SPAL and Sassuolo-Brescia.
“We did everything possible to avoid playing Udinese-Fiorentina behind closed doors,” Udinese director general Franco Collavino told reporters.
“We expressed our views from the start to the Lega Serie A and all the various authorities involved in the decision. We worked in synergy with other clubs and political institutions to reach a more equitable solution. I thank the Governor of Friuli for supporting our request.”
The decision caused controversy, in part because it was so late in the day, but also as the Friuli region has had far fewer cases of Coronavirus.
“Playing with no crowd is obviously penalising for the home team, we all know that. When the Lega Serie A asked us to play behind closed doors, that was a mistake, so the local authorities blocked the decision,” director of sport Pierpaolo Marino told Sky Sport Italia.
Inter director of sport Beppe Marotta complained this stretching out of fixtures is compromising the regularity of the Serie A season.
“I do not agree,” replied Marino. “We have no control over the Coronavirus outbreak, but adding other situations to increase irregularities like playing without fans would’ve been more damaging.
“It would’ve been financially damaging, as we have 15,000 season ticket holders that wanted refunds. I had expected the Lega Serie A to tell the Government we were prepared to suspend the whole tournament in the interests of public health.”