Juventus can be credited with a 3-0 win over Napoli in Serie A due to their opponents’ inability to complete the fixture.
Napoli are currently unable to leave the Italian region of Campania after midfielders Piotr Zielinski and Ilgef Elmas tested positive for the coronavirus. The local health authority had initially not advised the squad against traveling for the game despite insisting on self-isolation, but banned it on Sunday as well.
But Serie A officials maintained that the fixture should still go ahead because the other side had been able to play despite returning positive tests, and Napoli had not proved their inability to field the team.
The bianconeri are at the Allianz Stadium #JuveNapoli pic.twitter.com/vd3GVKTWck
— JuventusFC (@juventusfc) October 4, 2020
so what? Napoli didn’t travel to the Allianz Stadium for the fixture because they literally couldn’t. But Juventus did.
Yes, Andrea Pirlo’s side hit the ground running as usual, with social media pundits putting up line-up graphics before a game they knew couldn’t and wouldn’t happen, and everyone out to prove it. They are ready to play. . They wanted those three points on the default offer.
As Juventus went about their business, there was near radio silence from Napoli, who announced only that manager Gennaro Gattuso had not tested positive. There was no mention of whether they had traveled to the game. But everyone (everyone) was aware that the squad was already isolating itself.
And so, as the match was about to start, Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli and the club’s head of medical department Luca Stefani held a press conference to try to deal with the situation, but only muddied the waters further.
President Andrea Agnelli and head of the medical department Luca Stefani will now speak at a press conference.
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) October 4, 2020
The full and vague presser can be found on Juve’s Twitter account, but essentially, the club argues that they are sticking to the Italian federation’s coronavirus testing and reporting guidelines, and that Napoli violated them. has been As reported earlier in the week, Juventus believe they will be awarded three points from this match.
But given the unprecedented times we live in now, who knows how this messy situation will end.