Serie A finish in chaos, worsened by clash with Italian Open tennis final

Italian football is facing another embarrassment to add to the country’s failure to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.

With just three days to go until the start of the penultimate round of Serie A fixtures, Italy’s top-flight league, half the teams do not know when their matches will be played.

The Rome derby is at the core of the issue as it was originally slated to kick off at 12:30pm (10:30 GMT) on Sunday, along with four other matches involving teams competing for a Champions League berth.

Because the race for the final three Champions League spots – behind newly crowned champion Inter Milan – is so tight, the games featuring Napoli, Juventus, AC Milan, Roma and Como all have to be played simultaneously to ensure fairness.

However, the Italian Open men’s singles tennis final is scheduled for 5pm (15:00 GMT) at Rome’s Foro Italico, in the same complex as the Stadio Olimpico and, because of fears of public safety, local authorities have ordered the derby to be moved to Monday evening.

Because of the disruption that would cause to thousands of fans of the 10 teams involved, the Lega Serie A proposed an alternative: kicking off at 12pm (10:00 GMT) and pushing back the start of the tennis to 5:30pm (15:30 GMT).

That was rejected by Roman authorities, and so the Italian league’s governing body lodged a formal appeal with the Regional Administrative Tribunal (TAR) on Wednesday night.

Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri was asked about the matter on Wednesday, after his team’s loss to Inter in the Italian Cup final, and he blamed the Lega Serie A, adding that he would not even turn up at the stadium if the derby was played on Sunday.

“We could have thought of this overlap, but at the time, elements such as five matches simultaneously and Lazio’s Italian Cup final were missing,” Lega Serie A President Ezio Simonelli said. “It certainly won’t happen again.

“Out of a sense of responsibility also towards the 300,000 fans involved, we proposed a solution, and I assure you that bringing forward a match by half an hour is not a usual thing. We are asking the players and teams to make a sacrifice.”

Five points separate Napoli, in second, and sixth-place Como. Napoli is on 70 points, Juventus 68, Milan and Roma 67 and Como 65.

They are all playing against teams with little to play for but pride, with Napoli visiting already relegated Pisa, while Juventus, Milan and Como play Fiorentina, Genoa and Parma respectively — with those three sides already safe from relegation.

Lazio is out of the race for the European spots.

At the other end of the table, Lecce – which occupies the last position of safety – is one point above 18th-place Cremonese and visits Sassuolo. Cremonese travels to Udinese.

Italy’s national team became the first former winners to miss out on qualification for three consecutive World Cup finals when they were in a playoff on March 31.