MILAN (AP) — Inter Milan coach Antonio Conte won't have to sit through a torrent of boos when he returns to Turin for the first time to face former club Juventus.
That’s because there won't be any fans there to see it.
The Derby d'Italia, one of the season’s biggest matches, will be played in an empty stadium on Sunday because of the virus outbreak in northern Italy. The epicenter of the outbreak is in the Lombardy region, and Milan is its capital.
Serie A’s governing body released a statement on Thursday night announcing that the match and four others would be played without any fans allowed in.
Four Serie A matches scheduled for last weekend were postponed, including Inter’s match against Sampdoria. Italy has the most cases of the virus in Europe.
Serie A president Paolo Dal Pinto sent a letter to the government on Monday asking that games no longer be postponed in the affected areas but played without fans in attendance, something which Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora said they were in agreement with.
Italy has reported a total of 650 cases of the new coronavirus, up from 400 on Wednesday evening and three a week ago. Three more people with the virus died in 24 hours, bringing Italy's toll to 15.
Italy has closed schools, museums and theaters in the two hardest hit regions and troops are enforcing quarantines around 10 towns in Lombardy and the epicenter of the Veneto cluster, Vo'Euganeo.
Inter’s Europa League match against Ludogorets went ahead in an empty stadium on Thursday.
On Sunday, Conte will return to Juventus as opposition coach for the first time since he left the club in 2014. Conte led Juventus to the first three of its eight straight league titles and also spent most of his playing career with the Bianconeri.
“Soccer needs the crowd, to hear the atmosphere around it,” Conte said. “That’s the best thing about the game, the atmosphere around the soccer being played. These decisions have been taken with public health in mind but I hope that everything returns to normal as soon as possible.”
Inter trails the Serie A leaders by six points, although it has played a match less. Juventus, meanwhile, will have to bounce back from Wednesday’s surprise 1-0 loss at Lyon in the Champions League.
“We didn't play the match we wanted. We have a lot of work to do,” Juventus midfielder Aaron Ramsey said. “Let's focus on ourselves and do better than we did today, starting on Sunday with Inter."
