MILAN (AP) — With three days left until the start of Serie A’s penultimate round of matches, half of the teams don’t know when their games will take place.
The Rome derby is at the heart of the matter, as it was originally scheduled to kick off at 12:30pm (local time) on Sunday, along with four other games involving teams competing for Champions League qualification.
That’s because the battle for the final three spots in the Champions League has been delayed. Inter Milan are the new champions – It’s so tight that all matches featuring Napoli, Juventus, AC Milan, Roma and Como must be played at the same time to ensure fairness.
However, the Italian Open men’s singles tennis final was scheduled for 5pm at Rome’s Foro Italico, in the same complex as the Stadio Olimpico, and local authorities ordered the derby to be moved to Monday night due to public safety concerns.
Due to the potential for disruption to the thousands of fans of the 10 participating teams, Lega Serie A has proposed an alternative plan. It was to kick off at 12pm and delay the start of the tennis to 5:30pm.
This was rejected by the authorities in Rome, so the Italian league’s governing body lodged a formal appeal with the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) on Wednesday night.
Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri was asked about this on Wednesday after his team’s loss to Inter. italian cup finalhe blamed Lega Serie A, adding that if the derby was played on a Sunday, he wouldn’t even show up at the stadium.
Lega Serie A president Ezio Simonelli said: “We could have considered this overlap, but at the time elements such as five games being held at the same time and Lazio’s Italian Cup final were missing.” “It’s certainly not going to happen again.
“Out of a sense of responsibility to the 300,000 fans involved, we have proposed a solution. We can assure you that moving the game forward by 30 minutes is not normal. We are asking the players and the team to make sacrifices.”
major matches
There is a five-point difference between second-place Napoli and sixth-place Como.
Napoli have 70 points, Juventus on 68, Milan and Roma on 67 and Como on 65.
Napoli will visit already relegated Pisa, while Juventus, Milan and Como will face Fiorentina, Genoa and Parma respectively, all three teams already in danger of being relegated.
Lazio are out of the race for a European berth.
At the other end of the table, Lecce, who are safely at the bottom of the table, will play Sassuolo, one point ahead of Cremonese in 18th place. Cremonese travels to Udinese.
Featured players
Christian Pulisic missed Milan’s final match on Sunday. Disastrous defeat at home to Atalanta A large number of fans went on strike.
Pulisic had a hip injury but trained with the rest of the team on Wednesday. expected to come back In preparation for the trip to Genoa, aiming for the first goal in 2026.
The U.S. forward has not scored in his last 17 league games since Dec. 28. He also did not score in eight games for his country.
suspension
Milan will be without Rafael Leao, Alexis Saelemaekers and Pervis Estupinan, who are suspended for accumulating yellow cards.
Lazio defender Alessio Romagnoli was also suspended after being shown a straight red card during the match. his team lost 3-0 I will also go to Inter on Saturday.
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