Serie A announces Juventus-Inter will be played without fans

Posted February 27, 2020 6:00 am

The Associated Press

Inter Milan's head coach Antonio Conte sits on the bench before an Europa League, round of 32, first leg, soccer match between PFC Ludogorets Razgrad and Inter Milan at Huvepharma Arena in Razgrad, Bulgaria, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) The Associated Press

MILAN (AP) - The Serie A game between Juventus and Inter Milan will take place in an empty stadium because of the virus outbreak in Italy, the league confirmed Thursday.

Serie A's governing body released a statement announcing that Sunday's Derby d'Italia - one of the biggest games of the season - and four others would be played without any fans allowed in.

The other matches are Udinese vs. Fiorentina on Saturday, AC Milan vs. Genoa, Parma vs. Spal, and Sassuolo vs. Brescia on Sunday.

Inter trails Serie A leader Juventus by six points going into the game, although it has played a match less.

Sunday's match will also see Inter coach Antonio Conte return to Juventus 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.

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 on Thursday was played without any fans allowed in.

Four Serie A matches were postponed last weekend, with two given new dates on Thursday.

Hellas Verona vs. Cagliari and Torino vs. Parma will both be played on March 11.

New dates for Atalanta vs. Sassuolo and Inter vs. Sampdoria have yet to be decided.

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Stewards stand at a gate of the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. Ludogorets is playing Italian club Inter Milan in a Europa League soccer match on Thursday that is scheduled to go ahead in an empty stadium due to the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) The Associated Press

A notice outside San Siro stadium advises that the Serie A match between Inter and Sampdoria is cancelled, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020. In Lombardy, the hardest-hit region by the spread of the Coronavirus with 90 cases, schools and universities were ordered to stay closed in the coming days, and sporting events were canceled. Lombardy's ban on public events also extended to Masses in churches in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni) The Associated Press

A woman walks by the desert Olympic stadium in Turin Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020. Torino's match at home to Parma was postponed hours before kickoff on Sunday, following new cases the coronavirus in Piedmont. (NicolÃ² Campo/LaPresse via AP) The Associated Press

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