International football should be boycotted because this situation is bad for Italian football, proclaims Giuseppe Marotta
Giuseppe Marotta is Inter Milan's CEO
|Inter Milan CEO Giuseppe Marotta has asked clubs to boycott international football during the COVID-19 pandemic because the Italian believes that the situation is unfair to teams. This comes in light of a slew of positive COVID-19 tests among Serie A clubs at Inter, Lazio and Roma among others.
Ahead of the second international break since the season started, a number of clubs across Europe have banned their players from travelling to link up with their countries. That includes clubs from Serie A with local health authorities playing a key role in the matter in Italy especially in light of the positive COVID-19 tests. That includes positive tests at Inter Milan, Fiorentina, Sassuolo, and a few others with even Italy manager Roberto Mancini testing positive.
That will see Mancini miss out on the first two international games that the Azzurri play and it has seen the Italy head coach call up 41 players just incase. While that tally has now reduced to 25, Giuseppe Marotta has admitted that he believes the international break should be boycotted. The Inter Milan, and former Juventus, CEO has admitted that “this situation is unfair” because it allows the “local health authority” to dictate terms for a club.
“This situation is unfair. There is a grey area in the lack of centrality of this way of management. In this way, each local health authority becomes central to the management of the clubs. I go further, if faced with a case that’s positive and this is the overall management of the situation, then I say let’s boycott the national teams. Yes, I mean it,” Marotta told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“This is where the credibility of the system is concerned. Football must go on, it suits everyone and then the government should give us a hand and set certain rules. If we need a moment to stop, I propose that we all stop for 15 days, set clear and equal regulations for everyone, and then we start again. This is bad for all of Italian football.”
