Rome (AFP)
Naples in operation reconquest challenges Sunday evening in Turin a Juventus under "construction", in the shock of the 3rd day on which hangs the shadow of the coronavirus which has caught up with Italian football this week.
Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski tested positive for Covid-19 this week.
Only a few days after the sparkling victory against Genoa (6-0), a club in which a source of contamination has been declared with 19 positive cases announced since the end of last week, including 14 players.
Since the announcement from Genoa on Monday, the day after the trip to Naples, the southern team is under reinforced surveillance.
Both players and staff have been subjected to regular testing.
The first, Tuesday, had been negative.
But the new series organized on Thursday, and the results of which were communicated on Friday, revealed the positivity of Zielinski and a member of the staff.
A third screening is scheduled for Saturday.
The fear is twofold in the event of new positives: playing the weakened match by losing yet other holders, in a match between two candidates for the first places, but also possibly taking players to Turin who would already be contagious, without being positive.
- Italian test for Osimhen -
The new framework adopted Thursday by the Italian League does not allow to consider a postponement at this stage.
It has in fact endorsed the UEFA rules providing that a match can take place as long as a team has 13 healthy players, including a goalkeeper.
A waiver is planned: if a club houses an active outbreak of Covid-19 with more than ten new positive cases in a week, it can request a postponement, but only once in the season.
This was the case for Genoa, whose match scheduled for Saturday against Torino was postponed, but not that of Napoli.
Prepared in this strange atmosphere, this shock takes on a major stake for the Neapolitans, who want to test with the reigning champion their ambitions of reconquest after a mixed season.
It is also a first real test of Italian football for the Nigerian Victor Osimhen, a newcomer in Serie A, against the most experienced defenders of the Peninsula, the Turinese Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini.
The 21-year-old ex-Lille has aroused great expectations since his arrival in Italy, equal to the nearly 80 million euros disbursed by Napoli.
And he has rather answered it for the moment.
- Dybala rather than Morata?
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Facing Parma (2-0, 1st day), his entry into play for the last half hour, at 0-0, changed the face of the match by opening spaces which allowed Naples to find the fault.
Holder against Genoa (6-0, 2nd day), "Osi" was illustrated by a nice assist from the heel.
"He did not score, but he did score," said coach Gennaro Gattuso.
"When he attacks depth, he opens up a lot of space for us. He's the player we missed last season," added the technician, who is counting on him all the more because Lorenzo Insigne is injured.
Juventus, with its new coach Andrea Pirlo and its largely renewed workforce, will try to give meaning to the "construction" underway.
The initial promises against Sampdoria (3-0) was indeed succeeded by a mixed performance in Rome (2-2), saved by a double from Cristiano Ronaldo.
"We did not have time to test game solutions in the pre-season, with only one friendly match, so we have to do these tests during these matches", explained the coach.
Alvaro Morata, discreet at the forefront against Roma for his debut, could remain on the bench at kick-off.
Pirlo, without Adrien Rabiot, suspended, counts on his two fit men, Ronaldo and the Swedish nugget Dejan Kulusevski.
He also hopes to reunite with Paulo Dybala, who has yet to play due to a later resumption.
© 2020 AFP