Serie A delayed appeal, so chaos over 5 games could drag on for longer

Lega Serie A President Ezio Simonelli confirms the proposal to play Roma-Lazio and four other Serie A games on Sunday at 11.00 UK (12.00 CEST), but no formal appeal is lodged yet, so any final decision could take even longer.

The chaos over the Week 37 fixtures just keeps getting stranger, as nobody yet knows when the five fixtures (Roma-Lazio, Juventus-Fiorentina, Genoa-Milan, Como-Parma and Pisa-Napoli) will be played this weekend.

They have to be simultaneous to guarantee fairness in the fight for a Champions League spot, but public safety concerns prompted local authorities to move the Rome Derby kick-off from 11.30 UK on Sunday (12.30 CEST) to 19.45 UK on Monday (20.45 CEST).

This is because the Italian Open tennis tournament’s men’s final is scheduled for 14.00 UK (15.00 CEST) in the Foro Italico, the same complex as the Stadio Olimpico.

“We recognise the decision of the Prefect, but we do not share it,” Lega Serie A President Simonelli told reporters after a meeting of clubs.

“We made a proposal to the Interior Minister, hoping to find a solution, which is to bring all five games forward to 12.00 CEST.”

In turn, the plan would be to delay the start of the Italian Open men’s final to 16.30 UK (17.30 CEST).

However, the big news is that the Lega Serie A has not lodged a formal appeal to the TAR tribunal after all, but only threatened to do so.

“We hope to receive a response to our proposal by this evening. If we don’t, then we will have to present an appeal to the TAR tribunal.”

This means if they did go to the tribunal, then any decision would take another 24 hours, further extending the chaos.

The proposal was made to the Interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi, who expressed frustration at the whole situation.

“The decision made by the local authorities in the interests of public safety seemed entirely obvious and reasonable. It’s a pity, because this all could’ve been considered a lot earlier, it’s not as if we didn’t know the Italian Open was going to be played at this time…”

The Lega Serie A therefore could’ve taken that into account when planning the fixture list and not had the Rome Derby in the same weekend.