Juventus will REFUSE Serie A title if coronavirus pandemic ends season early, claims Italian football chief

Posted Saturday, April 04, 2020 by Thesun.co.uk

Juventus will REFUSE Serie A title if coronavirus pandemic ends season early, claims Italian football chief
Juventus will refuse the Serie A title if coronavirus ends the season early, claimed Gabriele Gravina

JUVENTUS will REFUSE the Serie A title if the coronavirus pandemic ends the season early, Italian football chief Gabriele Gravina has claimed.

Maurizio Sarri's side are top of the table with 12 matches remaining but the coronavirus crisis KO'd Italian football until April 13 at the earliest.

Italy has been the hardest hit country in the world in terms of deaths, with 13,915 recorded fatalities.

It has the third most cases, behind Spain and the USA, and has been under a strict lockdown for just under four weeks.

The lockdown is expected to continue to at least Easter Sunday, April 12, and Fiorentina and Torino owners reportedly believe Serie A won't be able to finish amid the crisis.

But According to ESPN, Italian football chief Gabriele Gravina claims it would be an "injustice" to scrap the campaign.

He told TMW Radio: "The top priority is completing the season, the idea is to start from May 20 or early June, to end in July.

"There's even been talk of August and September. I've made it clear that I'd hate to take the risk of compromising another season to save this one.

"I think scrapping the season would be rather complex. It would be a grave injustice, which would lead to a legal emergency during an epidemiological one.

"Only the Scudetto would need assigning and Juventus themselves, I believe, have expressed a dislike of such of a solution."

Belgium became the first European top-tier league to pull the plug, crowning Club Brugge as champions on Thursday.

European football chiefs have admitted for the first time that they may follow suit and axe the season.

A joint letter to all leagues and clubs confirmed that finishing the campaign despite the coronavirus crisis is the collective aim of European football.

But the letter, co-written by Uefa President Aleksander Ceferin, Juventus President Andrea Agnelli in his role as head of the European Clubs Association and Lars Christer Olsson of the European League umbrella group, concedes that it may not be possible for the campaign to be played to a finish.

Premier League chiefs remain desperate to complete the campaign and European football bosses have agreed to create space to finish the domestic leagues.

In response to Belgium's decision, it is understood that Uefa have told leagues that voiding the season would leave national associations unable to forward clubs for next season’s Champions League and Europa League IF other countries play out their campaigns.

President of Serie A side Bresica, Massimo Cellino believes it makes no sense to try to complete the season and that he would rather forfeit matches than put his team on the pitch.

He told Gazzetta dello Sport: "This season doesn't make sense any more.

"We've stopped, no team will return as before, the matches will be behind closed doors plus there's a risk to the health of the athletes. For me to go back to business is pure madness.

"If they force us to play, I'd be willing to not field the team and lose the matches 3-0 out of respect for the citizens of Brescia and their loved ones who are no longer there."

Uefa have agreed to more talks next week but the risk of a major divide in European football is growing.