The Corona pandemic casts a shadow over the return of the Italian League activity

The “Covid-19” pandemic is dominating the return of activity in the Italian Football Championship, as many players are absent from the ranks of their teams, with a decision to allow attendance of 50 percent of the stadiums’ capacity in an attempt to limit the spread of this disease.

Juventus begins a crucial month with a strong confrontation against Napoli, who led the first division of the league, before falling to third place after disappointing results in December.

Juventus is in fifth place, 12 points behind the leaders Inter and the holders of last season's title.

And coach Massimiliano Allegri's battalion must face Roma, Milan and Atalanta, and the latter is ahead of it by 4 points in the race to qualify for the Champions League, before mid-February. Juventus captain Giorgio Chiellini is absent due to infection with the “Covid-19” virus, and his veteran colleague Leonardo Bonucci due to injury, while Argentine strikers Paulo Dybala and Federico Chiesa will sit on the bench of the reserve players after recovering from injury. In turn, the southern team suffers from the absence of its most prominent players, led by Nigerian top scorer Victor Osimhen, who missed a large part of his team's matches in recent weeks due to injury before contracting Covid, along with Mexican Herving Losano, Macedonian Alif Al-Mas, French Kevin Malcuit and Portuguese Mario Roy for the same reason.

Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti underwent a test to detect Corona on Tuesday, and the result was positive, and he will also be absent.

Senegalese defense magnate Kalidou Koulibaly is also absent for his participation with his country in the African Nations Cup finals in Cameroon.

Napoli is 7 points behind Inter, after losing three matches in a row at home last month.

And highlights Milan's second confrontation with Rome VI at the San Siro stadium.

Milan wants to maintain its hopes of winning the title, while the capital's team hopes to enhance its chances of participating in the Champions League next season, knowing that it is behind Juventus, the fifth, by only two points.

Inter is a guest of Bologna, hoping to continue its good performances in the last two months, as it scored 7 victories in a row and is ahead of its neighbor in the same city by 4 points.

Inter overcame the departure of Belgian international top scorer Romelu Lukaku and Moroccan international right-back Ashraf Hakimi, in addition to coach Antonio Conte, who is currently supervising the training of Tottenham Hotspur. The team also reached the final price of the Champions League for the first time in a decade, when the draw made it a difficult confrontation with Liverpool.

Player under the microscope

The eyes will be focused on Fiorentina's Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic after the opening of the winter transfer window at the beginning of this month, especially since the newspaper "La Gazzetta dello Sport" reported that Arsenal is preparing to pay 70 million euros to obtain his services for solutions instead of Gabonese Pierre Emeric Aubameyang, who lost the captain's armband in the London team for disciplinary reasons, appears on his way to leaving due to disagreements with Spanish coach Michael Arteta. Vlahovic, 21, is the top scorer in the Italian league with 16 goals, knowing that he has announced his desire to stay with Fiorentina until the end of the current season.

And "DV9", which is linked to a contract until the summer of 2023 with Fiorentina, scored goals that cause panic in the defense lines and goalkeepers.

In 2021, the son of the capital, Belgrade, scored 33 goals in the Italian Serie A, equaling the record recorded in the name of Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, which he achieved with Juventus in 2020, which drew the attention of major European clubs.

And 68 is the number of players infected with Covid-19 until yesterday, according to an AFP statistic.

And 16 is the number of goals scored by Vlahovic, 3 ahead of Lazio striker Ciro Immobile.

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