Serie A: Lazio president backs idea of title play-off with Juventus

Juventus was a point ahead of Lazio at the top of the Serie A table when Italy's football season was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Published : Apr 27, 2020 15:05 IST

Leonardo Bonucci (L) and Ciro Immobile
Leonardo Bonucci (L) and Ciro Immobile
lightbox-info

Leonardo Bonucci (L) and Ciro Immobile

Lazio president Claudio Lotito would be in favour of a play-off with Juventus to decide the Serie A title.

Juve was a point ahead of Lazio at the top of the table when Italy's football season was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Stringent lockdown measures in Italy are being eased from Monday, and there are plans in place to allow teams to return to training on May 18.

READ |

A decision has not yet been made on how the 2019-20 Serie A season will be resumed, with Juve and Lazio still having 12 matches to play, including a meeting at the Allianz Stadium that was initially scheduled for April 26.

 

Lotito would support the idea of another one-off meeting to settle the title if necessary, particularly as he believes Lazio's decision to focus on the league rather than the Europa League will no longer give his side an advantage as the fixture schedule would be hectic if the season returned in full.

"In the first game against Juventus, we won 3-1, and in the Supercoppa we won 3-1. And we still had to play the second game," Lotito told La Repubblica .

"For fairness, a team like Inter, who have eight points fewer than us, or Atalanta, who have 14 fewer points - tell me if they should be involved.

READ |

"Yes, I'd accept [a play-off]. But I never posed the problem myself. However, restarting penalises us. We made a choice, believing we couldn't play on three fronts: we sacrificed the Europa League, given that, for times and travelling, it was the most uncomfortable competition.

"So, we would have played once a week while others played twice. If we started again, we'd all play twice a week, and we'd lose an advantage. But I think about the interests of 20 clubs."

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment