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Serie A award Juventus 3-0 win after Napoli decline to travel for match in Turin

October 14, 2020 No Comments

Local health authorities blocked the visitors from travelling to the match due to two positive Covid-19 cases among the playing squad

Serie A announced that Juventus have been awarded a 3-0 win over Napoli after the visitors did not travel to Turin for a scheduled match on October 4.

In addition, Napoli have been punished with a one-point deduction for failing to turn up for the game at Allianz Stadium.

Napoli were blocked from travelling to the match by local health authorities after two players, Piotr Zielinski and Eljif Elmas, tested positive for Covid-19 along with a member of staff at the club.

Though Napoli did not travel, Juventus did turn up to the game, which was officially cancelled 45 minutes after kick-off by the referee.

Gennaro Gattuso’s side had hoped that the match would be rescheduled, but a judge from Serie A has ruled that “force majeure”, the legal term for an extraordinary event or circumstance beyond any party’s control, did not exist in this case.

“In the opinion of this sports judge, the case of force majeure is not proven,” a statement read.

The judge would go on to indicate that Napoli’s impediment from travelling to Turin was evident only on the day of the match, but that the club had already decided in the days leading up to the game that they would not be heading to Turin.

Napoli have indicated that they will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and then to CONI, the highest Italian sports authority.

After the game was postponed, Juve president Andrea Agnelli said that he believed his side should be awarded the win.

“Napoli president [Aurelio] De Laurentiis sent me a message and I replied that [we], as always, abide by the rules,” Agnelli said.

“He wanted to postpone the match, but we have regulations that tell us how to proceed. Every industry has its rules and we need to respect them. I don’t think the ASL [local health authority] of Naples can intervene if the FIGC protocol, which refers back to the government’s circular, is not observed at some point. If the protocol changes, we will once again abide by it”.

With the result, Juventus move up to fourth in the table while Napoli have dropped down to eighth.

The Polish international nearly left the club in the recently completely window and now must wait three months until he can depart

Napoli‘s Arkadiusz Milik believes he has “not been treated well” by the Neapolitan outfit after they failed to sanction a move to another club despite the player having accepted offers, and then subsequently leaving the striker out of their squads for Serie A and the Europa League.

Milik appeared to be on the brink of leaving Napoli in the most recent transfer window, as Juventus and Roma were close to a deal while Tottenham also showed interest in the Poland star.

The 26-year-old, however, would end up staying at Napoli despite admitting he had accepted offers from other teams. Milik has revealed he turned down the chance to stay with Napoli long term, with his current contract set to expire at season’s end.

“Napoli wanted to extend my contract for five years and gave me two choices: to sign or leave,” Milik told SportoweFakty. “I decided that I would like to try something else.”

“The life of an athlete is beautiful but short. I am 26 years old, I want to grow, to be a better player,” the striker continued.

“I think this is the right time to try a new challenge. There has never been hostility on my part towards Napoli. I wanted to solve everything professionally. I have great respect for the club, I spent four wonderful years in Naples. I respect Napoli, the fans. That’s what I decided. Right or wrong, but it’s my decision.

“I don’t want to name the teams that have contacted me, but the truth is that I had accepted some of the offers. But the teams in question never reached an agreement with Napoli and I had to stay.”

After his proposed move fell through, Napoli responded by leaving Milik out of their Serie A and Europa League squad. The striker was especially dismayed to find out that news from media reports rather than the club itself.

“I heard it from the press,” Milik said. “I expected this decision but the lack of communication from the club is not professional. I believe I haven’t been treated well.”

Milik has now been forced to train separately from Napoli with his only likely game action to come on international duty with Poland. All the striker can do now is wait until the transfer window opens again in January and find a new club then.

“I’m waiting for the next transfer window,” Milik said. “I hope the clubs reach an agreement at that point. I feel good physically, I have trained individually. I will play other matches with the national team. In three months my form will not suffer a lot. Where will I go? We’ll see.

“I have no regrets for what I have done and what I have decided. I will suffer a little, but I will resist.”