Serie A Italy may return in May
After a long ordeal that generated nearly 200,000 people infected and more than 25,000 killed by the new Coronavirus, Italy seems to see a light at the end of the tunnel with the drop in the number of daily cases in the past few days. And this is giving encouragement to consider the resumption of some activities, including football.
ITALIAN SERIES: TRAINING ON MAY 18?
The Italian government recently declared that it would authorize the return to training by individual practitioners as early as May 4, and team sports will have to wait two more weeks until May 18. In this sense, Italian football is beginning to dream of the possibility of being able to conclude its season in good time, and the deadline indicated seems to be the next August 2nd.
Now, with the final stretch of European competitions scheduled for the month of August, this may give rise to the conclusion of the Italian League during the months of June and July. But in order for this to be possible, it is essential that the return to training takes place in May, allowing clubs to recover their players’ shape until mid-June, before the resumption of the competition.
The president of the Italian Football Federation, Gabriele Gravina warns, however, that the return to training and games will not be done in any way, as the goal is to ‘resume football in safe conditions’. The scene behind closed doors comes into play here as in so many other European leagues, and the health care of athletes will be immense with tests to covid-19 being able to become habitual processes during the work week and the day before challenges.
FULLY AGREED CLUBS
This governing decision supports the idea that had been put forward by Italian clubs a few days ago. At the time, and contrary to what happens in Portugal, all Italian Serie A clubs met to discuss a possible return to competition.
That meeting resulted in a unanimous vote by the 20 clubs of the Italian League to complete the season if the government’s endorsement emerged, something that arrived a few days later.
Contrary to what has happened in Portuguese football, those responsible for Serie A Italiana chose to convene all member clubs at a meeting where the general interests of all clubs were defended. With clubs in dire need of financial funding, the return of football will allow them to receive the rest of the television rights that have been suspended for the past two months and that would have been a decisive reason for the widespread endorsement of the clubs involved.
After this assembly of clubs, the league board met with the Italian sports minister to ratify that decision, and now the government endorsement has also come, which makes the hypothesis of competitive recovery a very likely scenario in the coming weeks.
CRISTIANO RONALDO RETURN TO TORINO
Another sign that Italian football is heading for its return is due to the news that Cristiano Ronaldo will fly back to Italy this week, probably after a request from Juventus.
The Transalpine club is already preparing to return to training and one of the first steps to be taken is to make sure that all its players who have been absent from the country during this state of emergency return in time so as not to delay their preparation with with a view to starting training in mid-May.
The Portuguese player spent a good season on his native island, Madeira, with his family, but according to the videos he released on social networks he will not have neglected his physical condition as is already his prerogative.
At 35 years of age, Cristiano Ronaldo is no longer a young player with inexhaustible energy, but the way he prepares himself physically throughout the year is an extraordinary asset he has in his arsenal so that they can continue to score week-long goals for week old age.
Juventus led Serie A Italiana during the league break with just one more point than Lazio Roma, and with twelve games yet to be played everything is open at the top of the table. La Vecchia Signora seeks his ninth consecutive Scudetto title in a sequence unparalleled in the centenary history of Italian football. Can Lazio challenge this hegemony?
