Rome (AFP)

Naples' package against Juventus Turin on Sunday, following two cases of Covid-2019 in the Neapolitan workforce, risks winning it 3-0 on the green carpet and has opened a new crisis in Italian football.

At 8:45 p.m., kick-off time maintained by the Italian sports authorities, the Juventus players were there, the referees too and even a handful of supporters.

But not the Neapolitans, who remained in isolation at home on the instructions of the regional health authorities.

The southern Italian club ensures that it has not obtained permission from the local health authorities to make the trip and requested the postponement of this meeting.

Naples is the first team not to appear on the pitch, for a match maintained, due to the coronavirus, in the five major European leagues.

There had been a case of withdrawal in August during a preliminary round match of the Champions League: the Kosovar club Drita could not play their match and had lost match against Linfield (Northern Ireland).

In view of the rules adopted this week by the sports authorities, Naples could lose the match on the green carpet 3-0.

- At least 13 players -

According to the Italian League, the protocol to frame the Serie A matches was to allow Naples to field a team against Juve, despite the two positive cases in the Neapolitan workforce (midfielders Eljif Elmas and Piotr Zielinski).

The measures, providing for regular testing, are "applicable to the Napoli situation" and have already enabled other matches to be held since the start of the season, she said.

The League this week endorsed UEFA rules providing that a match could take place as long as a team had 13 healthy players, including a goalkeeper.

According to this protocol, a team which is not able to present the required number of players loses the match on the green carpet.

The only possible exemption: 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 with Genoa, where 17 players tested positive in one week and whose scheduled match against Torino on Saturday has been postponed.

But not that of Naples.

However, in the eyes of Napoli, the health instructions of the local authorities are opposed to the sports health protocol: it is thus on the basis of a letter from the health authority of the Campania region that the club of President Aurelio de Laurentiis , a regular hit, decided not to make the trip.

- Arm wrestling -

The standoff expected in the coming days on the interpretation of health rules, between sports and local protocols, could have major consequences for the rest of the season.

"De Laurentiis sent me a message before the match asking for the dismissal, I told him that Juventus are sticking to the rules," Juventus president Andrea Agnelli told Sky Sport.

"We have clear protocols, in case of positivity, we apply them", he added, while the Turin club itself has recorded two positive cases, but neither players nor members of the technical and medical staff .

In a press release on Sunday evening, the scientific committee responsible for advising the government recalled that the local health authorities were responsible for monitoring Covid-19 cases.

Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora for his part called for "the best interests of health to prevail over all other logic", a message he promised to convey to the presidents of the Federation and the League that he must meet on Monday.

Naples had been placed under reinforced surveillance since the announcement on Monday of cases grouped in Genoa, its latest opponent to date.

© 2020 AFP