Serie A descends into farce as Lazio game against Torino abandoned with opponents AWOL
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ByEurosport
Updated 02/03/2021 at 19:35 GMT
Torino might be stuck in Turin after a Covid-19 outbreak, but that didn't stop their opponents on Tuesday continuing as if their Serie A game was going ahead. Lazio named a team for the match an hour before kick-off and also posted pictures on social media of the players at the stadium. The match was officially abandoned 45 minutes after the kick-off time.
Lazio's Ciro Immobile talks to officials
Image credit: Getty Images
There were farcical scenes in Serie A on Tuesday as Lazio named a starting XI to play their home match against Torino before it was abandoned 45 minutes after the scheduled kick-off time, with the visitors stuck in Turin after a Covid-19 outbreak.
The Torino squad was instructed to quarantine by the local health authority (ASL) after registering eight cases of the British variant of the coronavirus.
Their match against Sassuolo last Friday was suspended due to the outbreak, but Italian news agency ANSA reported that the Lega Serie A council unanimously decided in an urgent meeting on Tuesday that the game in Rome should go ahead as planned.
Lazio named a team for the match an hour before kick-off and also put pictures on social media of players in the stadium. Players sat on the bench before the match was officially abandoned.
Torino did not travel for the contest and could be handed a 3-0 defeat and deducted a point for failing to turn up for the scheduled kick-off.
That is the punishment handed to Napoli in October after they did not travel to Turin for a Serie A match against champions Juventus, saying the ASL had told them to stay at home following positive Covid-19 cases.
It resulted in chaotic scenes at the Allianz Stadium as the Juve squad and match officials turned up and had to wait until 45 minutes after the scheduled kick-off time before the game could be officially abandoned.
Napoli later successfully appealed against the punishment to the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) Guarantee Board, Italian sport's highest tribunal, and Serie A President Paolo Dal Pino conceded that the Torino case could be heading the same way.
"For us the game must go ahead, but if there is a hard and restrictive attitude from the ASL, we must also make evaluations based on the decision of the CONI Guarantee Board, who unfortunately set a legal precedent with the Juve-Napoli case," Dal Pino told Gr Parlamento radio.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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