Serie A teams set for two ties a week marathon

MILAN: Serie A teams will face twogames a week for the rest of the season once the league restarts following the Covid-19 stoppage, according to the fixtures published on Monday. The league confirmed that it will restart on June 20 and finish on August 2 and there will be matches almost every day during that period as it completes the remaining 12 rounds, plus four games outstanding, in just over six weeks.

Serie A has been suspended since March 9 but the government gave the green light for it to restart last Thursday.

Most weekend matchdays will run from Saturday to Monday and midweek rounds from Tuesday to Thursday. The league will resume with the four matches postponed from previous rounds. Torino-parma get the ball rolling on June 20 followed by Verona v Cagliari. Third-placed Inter host Sampdoria the following evening while Atalanta play Sassuolo.

The first full matchday will be on June 22 with three games, including leaders Juventus at Bologna. Second-placed Lazio will play their first game two days later with a tricky visit to fourthplaced Atalanta. The potentially decisive match between Juventus and Lazio will be on July 20. Juventus, chasing a ninth successive title, lead with 63 points from 26 games followed by Lazio (62).

BARCA VS MALLORCA

In La Liga, Barcelona will resume their bid to defend the title on June 13 away to Real Mallorca, while Real Madrid will host Eibar on June 14. The season kick backs into action with Sevilla playing Real Betis on June 11 and there will be fixtures for the following seven days, with Barca hosting Leganes on June 16 and Real playing Valencia on June 18.

Real will play their remaining six home games at the Estadio Alfredo di Stefano based at their training ground. Barca were leading Real by two points after 27 matches when the campaign was postponed.

Organisers have only released scheduling details for the first two rounds. although La Liga chief Javier Tebas confirmed that there will be matches every day of the week until the season is completed on July 19.