SPAL beat Parma behind closed doors despite sports minister's call to suspend Serie A
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ByEurosport
Updated 08/03/2020 at 16:17 GMT
An Andrea Petagna penalty earned SPAL a 1-0 win at Parma in the first closed-door match of the Serie A season, but the game faced a long delay after scenes of confusion before kick-off.
SPAL Parma
Image credit: Getty Images
Chaos reigned minutes before the match was scheduled to start, as players were called back into the dressing room from the tunnel as they awaited a decision on whether the game was to go ahead.
That followed a call from Italy’s sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora to suspend the league amid the coronavirus outbreak.
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The game eventually started 75 minutes later than planned, and SPAL earned a valuable three points thanks to a second-half Petagna spot kick, which lifted them off bottom and into 19th place on 18 points, two ahead of Brescia.
All Serie A matches will be played without fans attending until April 3 as part of government measures put in place to try and stop the spread of the virus.
Relegation-battling Genoa moved out of the Serie A drop zone thanks to a surprise 2-1 win over AC Milan at an empty San Siro on Sunday.
The visitors raced into a two-goal lead before halftime after Goran Pandev and Francesco Cassata both turned in crosses from close range.
Milan rallied after the break as Zlatan Ibrahimovic pulled one back, but they could not find an equaliser in an eerie atmosphere at one of Italian football’s most iconic stadiums.
At the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa, a late double from Fabio Quagliarella earned Sampdoria a 2-1 comeback win over Hellas Verona that ended the visitors’ nine-match unbeaten league run and kept the hosts one point above the relegation zone in 16th place.
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