“Give the country a smile”: Italian football starts again

The coach of Serie A club Atalanta thought about death, he felt so bad. Gian Piero Gasperini later tested positive for the coronavirus. At Juventus, some of the best players like Paulo Dybala were positive. AC Milan icon Paolo Maldini contracted the virus and at the same time criticized the fact that football was still being played in the middle of the pandemic. It was “madness” to play Champions League games like Liverpool FC against Atlético Madrid, where people were already aware of hot spots like Madrid.

Italy's football world was not only completely at a standstill for three months due to the Corona crisis. Players, managers and club staff were also directly affected by the virus, which struck primarily in northern Italy and killed more than 34.000 people. Cup semi-finals on Friday and Saturday From Friday the ball will roll again in Italy. And that's what the whole thing is about. In the cup semi-finals, record champions Juventus with superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and AC Milan will face each other on Friday (first leg: 1-1). Ronaldo fled to his home island of Madeira during the crisis, other Juventus stars like Gonzalo Higuaín went to Argentina or, like Sami Khedira, to Germany.

Romelu Lukaku is Inter's hope. © ANSA / FRANCO DEBERNARDI

Napoli and Inter follow on Saturday (first leg: 1-0). The Coppa Italia final is scheduled to take place next Wednesday (June 17). Serie A will then resume play on June 20th. Twelve matchdays are still outstanding.

Infections in Italy have been falling for weeks. But before the league, government and the FIGC football association got together and decided to continue the season, weeks full of arguments and chaos had passed. Strict rules It remains to be seen how great the enjoyment of the restart will be. In Italy too, all games will be played without fans. The safety protocol for the clubs is strict. The handout from the football association and the government is almost 40 pages long. It ranges from disinfected team buses to shower instructions and the exact length of microphone poles during interviews. Of course, all players must be tested for the virus.

If a player or employee of a club is positive, the entire team must be quarantined for two weeks. The association has announced playoffs in the event that the start takes place later or Serie A has to be interrupted again early on. If this is not possible - for example because the interruption is too close to the final date in August - an algorithm based on the average points should decide the final table and thus the participants in the European Cup and those relegated. A champion, if this has not yet been determined, would not be crowned.

But even if a possible new demolition hangs over the football world like the sword of Damocles: Now the anticipation for the first game predominates. “We're almost there...we can't wait,” Inter midfielder Antonio Candreva wrote on social media. “The green grass, the teammates, the emotions that only this sport gives us. We hope that we can bring lightness and smiles to the fans and the entire country after these months of suffering and difficulties.”

Serie A Italy	SP	TV	P
1. Inter	33	79:18	86
2.Milan	33	64:39	69
3. Juventus	33	47:26	64
4.Bologna	33	48:26	62
5. Roma	32	57:38	55
6. Atalanta	32	59:37	54
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“Give the country a smile”: Italian football starts again

There was a complete standstill in Italian football for three months because of Corona. When we start again, things get straight to the point in the cup. But the teams themselves are deeply scarred by the death and suffering in the Corona crisis.

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