Beppe Marotta slammed the Lega Serie A for the postponement of fixtures including Juventus-Inter. “Playing behind Closed Doors is no longer an option. The tournament has been distorted and we risk not even concluding the season.”

It had been announced on Thursday that five Serie A fixtures in the areas affected by the Coronavirus outbreak – Juventus-Inter, Milan-Genoa, Udinese-Fiorentina, Sassuolo-Brescia and Parma-SPAL – would be played behind closed doors.

On Saturday morning, the Lega Serie A suddenly confirmed the matches were rescheduled for May 13 instead, in turn changing the date of the Coppa Italia Final to May 20.

La Gazzetta dello Sport openly asked Inter director Marotta if he thought Juventus pressure was behind the decision.

“I am not particularly interested in that, to be honest,” he replied. “I wish to point out that the whole situation was dealt with badly. It should’ve been handled much quicker, also to avoid certain allusions.

“The Lega Serie A decided on Thursday that it’d play behind closed doors, then on Friday Minister for Sport Vincenzo Spadafora advised against it. At that point, the error was made by the President of the Lega Serie A, Paolo Dal Pino, who made a decision without asking anyone.

“What he should’ve done was call an extraordinary meeting to discuss all together what needed to be done, to reach common ground between what the Lega had asked for and the Government’s indications. Instead, we just received notice that this was being done and that was that.

“This is simply not acceptable. This is why Inter asked for and were given an extraordinary meeting of the 20 Lega clubs for Sunday. We want to discuss the future, because what happens from now in is what worries me.

“I am worried for Inter-Sassuolo next Sunday. What do we do then? We cannot play behind closed doors, as it’d be absurd to use that just a week after it was considered unsuitable during a medical emergency. Closed doors is no longer an option, it has been taken off the table.

“Let’s not even talk about postponing the game to Monday, as Inter have already been damaged and paid a heavy price. We’ve got a Europa League game three days later anyway. So it’s either on Sunday with a crowd or I see no other option.”

Inter are particularly troubled, because last week’s game with Sampdoria at San Siro was also cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak and there is no real date for it to be rescheduled.

If the Nerazzurri go all the way in the Coppa Italia and Europa League, it might even have to be played after the Serie A season has concluded.

“The worst mistake was postponing Inter-Sampdoria, because that should’ve been played behind closed doors. It’s a situation nobody likes, but in my view it’s inevitable in these situations.

“I can also say I’d have used the same criteria for all the games this weekend, so potentially postpone the whole round.”

Lazio did play against Bologna and won 2-0, which puts them top of the Serie A table, but Marotta assures the Aquile and their President Claudio Lotito are not to blame for this situation.

“Lotito is very sad that these games were postponed. I can assure you that the decision left many clubs unsatisfied. Atalanta-Lazio is meant to be next weekend, what happens then?”

The Inter director even outlined a potential nightmare scenario, seeing as Euro 2020 is this summer.

“If more games get postponed, then we really do risk not even concluding the Serie A season. The tournament has been distorted. Just think of injuries, suspensions, and even the psychological aspect. It’s not the same for a team to play when one point off their opponents compared to six or eight points away. Motivation is everything.

“I am also forced to ask myself, why was a new date decided for Juve-Inter before that of Inter-Samp? What criteria was used for that decision?

“It makes us think that for the future, the fixture list is too compressed, we’d do well to reduce Serie A from 20 teams to 18 so at least there would be some midweek gaps in case of emergency. We are now in a situation with no way out.”

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