ROME (AP) — This week’s decisions by UEFA A proposal to allow the Italian football league match between AC Milan and Como to be held in Australia in February has drawn a heated response from a prominent Rossoneri player and Serie A CEO.
Milan midfielder Adrien Rabiot described flying 20 hours each way for a match in Perth, which is in a time zone six hours ahead of Italy, during a crucial month of the season as “absolutely crazy”.
UEFA reluctantly decided not to object. A plan to break with tradition Barcelona is scheduled to play a Spanish league match in Miami in December.
“It’s all about financial deals and giving visibility to a league that is ahead of us (players),” Rabiot told French newspaper Le Figaro. “A lot has been said about the schedule and the health of the players, but this seems really ridiculous. It would be crazy to travel so far for a match between the Italian national teams in Australia. As always, we will have to adapt.”
Although Milan and Como are less than an hour apart, Milan had to find another venue to play their home game on February 8, as the San Siro stadium will be unavailable after being used for the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games two days earlier.
Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo suggested that Rabiot “forgets that, like all soccer players who earn millions, he is paid to perform his job of playing soccer,” adding that the NFL, NBA, Tour de France and Giro d’Italia regularly travel abroad. “This is done to strengthen the product, not weaken it.
“(Rabiot) should have more respect for the money he has earned and be more supportive of what his employers, Milan, have embraced and promoted in order to host this match abroad,” DeSiervo added on the sidelines. European Football Club (EFC) General Assembly Wednesday. “Top players need to understand better than other players that this is something they can sacrifice because they are paid according to the amount of work they perform.”
UEFA president Alexander Ceferin announced the decision on Monday as “regrettable”, saying it was “unusual and should not be seen as setting a precedent”.
So Ceferin will be pleased to learn that Texas-based Roma president Dan Friedkin, who is also an EFC board member representing more than 700 teams across the continent, is unfazed when asked if Roma might someday play at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in the wake of the Australia-Miami game.
“I fully support everything that UEFA is doing,” Friedkin said. “Obviously, they’re close partners.”
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