Coppa Italia: AC Milan fans barred from attending semi-final against Juventus after coronavirus outbreak in Lombardy

Rome: Residents of Milan will not be allowed to attend the Coppa Italia semi-final match between Juventus and AC Milan at Allianz Stadium in Turin on Wednesday as part of anti-virus precautions being taken. [caption id=“attachment_5732171” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The second leg of the semi-finals will be off-limits to residents of the regions of Lombardy, which contains Milan, and Emilia Romagna and Veneto, plus the provinces of Pesaro, Urbino and Savona — the areas hardest hit by the COVID-19 virus. Juventus made the announcement Monday, asking fans to show up early so their identification cards can be checked carefully. The first leg ended 1-1. No such ban has yet been put in place for the other semi-final match between Napoli and Inter Milan at San Paolo Stadium in southern Italy. A total of 10 Serie A matches in Italy have been postponed over the past two weekends because of the virus. Lombardy has been the epicentre of Italy’s outbreak, registering the first positive test of the northern cluster and now counting 984 of Italy’s 1,694 cases. Meanwhile, German media reported that a local football fan is suspected of infecting people in Salzburg with the virus while traveling there for last week’s Salzburg-Eintracht Frankfurt game in the Europa League. It was unclear if the person actually attended the game, which was postponed 24 hours because of bad weather. Also, the International Biathlon Union announced that a World Cup event in the Czech Republic will take place without spectators. The IBU said the races in Nove Mesto, due to run from Thursday through Sunday, would likely have attracted 100,000 people. Five-time Olympic gold medalist Martin Fourcade questioned why spectators were banned without similar restrictions for athletes and teams, “in spite of the fact we were all in Italy less than 14 days ago” at the world championships. In Switzerland, where the federal government has prohibited events of more than 1,000 people, the hockey league decided Monday to suspend play for two weeks. Playoffs were to begin in the top two divisions this weekend. The 24 clubs agreed at an emergency meeting to suspend all games until the current federal order expires on 15 March.