Lazio v Torino abandoned after Torino banned from travelling over COVID-19 outbreak
Lazio v Torino was abandoned over a Covid-19 outbreak
|Torinoâs clash against Lazio was abandoned after the side from Turin failed to travel with health authorities placing them in quarantine in light of a COVID-19 outbreak. This is the second time this has happened this season with Juventus also awarded a 3-0 victory that was overturned on appeal.
With eight players testing positive for the coronavirus within Torinoâs squad, it saw health authorities in Turin tell the club not to travel for their away game against Lazio. But, while the league wanted the game to go on, despite Torinoâs previous game being postponed, the away side were not allowed to travel and it lead to the game being abandoned.
Lazio, however, turned up to the stadium and named a squad that saw the game officially abandoned 45 minutes after it was supposed to kick-off. That, under Serie A rules, will see Lazio awarded a 3-0 victory with Torino set to face a one-point deduction but the Turin side are set to reportedly appeal the decision. Based on recent precedents, they have a chance of overturning the forfeit loss with Napoli undergoing the same issue.
The Partenopei failed to turn up for an away game against Juventus and were handed a 3-0 loss as well but that was overturned on an appeal with a rearranged fixture scheduled. Torino, however, have a bigger problem, as they havenât played since the 19th of February but they are scheduled to play on Sunday against Crotone. It saw Torino's president Urbano Cairo confirm that the club are going to appeal the decision but he hit out at the Serie A's integrity and their decision to not postpone the game.
âYou cannot defend the league and its integrity by ignoring objective reality, a reality that says we cannot move, nor leave the city. Itâs all so logical that one plus one is two, instead here in order to reach two, they are going through a thousand steps," Cairo told LaPresse.
"The only logical consequence was to postpone the match. Now we await the decision of the sporting justice system. Obviously, we will seek every possible avenue to appeal.â
