THIS IS SERIE-OUS

Inter chief warns coronavirus could cancel Italian top flight as more call-offs leave season in mess

INTER MILAN chief Giuseppe Marotta claims the Serie A seasonshouldbeABANDONED if more games fall victim to coronavirus call-offs. The San Siro side’s match with title-chasing Juventus, which was to have been played yesterday, was one of five games postponed by Serie A over the weekend. The games, all in regions where sporting events have been banned by the government, had been due to be played behind closed doors. The season is scheduled to run until May 24 – with Euro 2020 starting on June 12 – but Juventus, Napoli, Atalanta and Inter are all still involved in European competition. Italy has registered over 1100 confirmed cases of the virus since the disease came

BY PAUL WATSON to light and at least 29 people have died.

Sampdoria’s visit to Inter was one of four postponed last Sunday and Marotta said they were running out of dates for games.

Serie A chiefs have arranged an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the consequences of the government measures and the rescheduling of matches.

But Marotta said: “If more matches are called off then, yes, we run the risk that the championship might not finish.

“The championship balance has been altered and it’s now a distorted tournament. Just think of injuries and suspensions – and the psychological aspect when you look at the standings.

“I’m worried about our game against Sassuolo next week. How do we deal with that? We can’t play behind closed doors because it would be absurd to use a measure one week that we didn’t use the week before – I can’t see a solution.”

Third-placed Inter’s two postponements have caused them to drop eight points behind leaders Lazio who have played and won two games in that period.

But the Romans’ matches – away to Genoa and at home to Bologna – were both in regions unaffected by coronavirus.

Serie A president Paolo Dal Pino said: “I have to promote the Italian league and its image in the world – broadcasting matches in empty stadiums would have been a bad business card for the country.”

Only two games survived but both were crackers. In the early game red-hot Atalanta battered Lecce 7-2 with Duvan Zapata hitting a hat-trick.

An own goal from Giulio Donati got it going before Zapata added a second – but Lecce levelled through Riccardo Saponara and a Donati effort at the right end.

Zapata bagged another two after Josip Ilicic’s strike with Luis Muriel and a Ruslan Malinovsky penalty wrapping it up.

The other clash saw Roma edge out Cagliari 4-3 in Sardinia.

Joao Pedro gave the hosts the lead but Nikola Kalinic’s double turned it around. Justin Kluivert then made it 3-1 before Gaston Pereiro hit back.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan added another for Roma while Joao Pedro missed from the spot – but tucked in the rebound to make it a nervy finish.