Juventus have issued an official statement to confirm their decision to field players in Sunday's Serie A clash with Napoli. Despite the fact that their opponents were supposedly prevented from travelling to Turin on Saturday amid a Covid crisis, the Bianconeri are ready to make an appearance to merit a default 3-0 victory.
On Saturday, the Old Lady took to their official Twitter account to reveal the stance it has taken ahead of the scheduled fixture. The tweet said: "Juventus Football Club announces that the First Team will take to the field for the Juventus - Napoli match tomorrow at 20:45, as foreseen by the Serie A League calendar."
Juventus Football Club announces that the First Team will take to the field for the Juventus - Napoli match tomorrow at 20:45, as foreseen by the Serie A League calendar.
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) October 3, 2020
This came on the back of news that Napoli had recorded two COVID-19 positive cases for Piotr Zielinski and Eljif Elmas and had been allegedly banned from travelling to Turin by the local health authority. The virus is believed to have found its way into the Partenopei's camp when they took on Genoa in last Sunday's 6-0 win. The latter have since recorded 22 positive cases with 17 players also getting infected by the virus.
Amid the crisis, Lega Serie A issued a statement on Saturday confirming that the Juventus-Napoli match is due to go ahead as scheduled. A subsequent report by news agency ANSA claimed that the release from the local health authority did not categorically ban the Napoli team from travelling.
All the Covid-19 tests carried out on team members this morning have come back negative. Four further tests are still being processed and will be ready later today.
— Official SSC Napoli (@en_sscnapoli) October 3, 2020
Instead, the club was asked to place some players as well as their manager coach Gennaro Gattuso into 'fiduciary isolation'. While the request does not directly translate a travel ban, the Partenopei were expected to make the trip to Turin provided they had 13 players - including a goalkeeper - available as per the protocols instated by the Lega Serie A and UEFA. With the aforementioned not being fulfilled, they now risk forfeiting the game by a 3-0 scoreline.
Meanwhile, Juventus, despite stating their willingness to field players for Sunday's game, have two members of staff coming down with Covid-19. The club has since moved the whole playing body and technical team into fiduciary isolation "in compliance with the regulations and the protocol."
