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Just when you thought you might actually get to see Juventus play a team from Milan in the month of March, think again.
After original steps were taken to prevent fans from coronavirus hot spots from attending Wednesday night’s Coppa Italia semifinal between Juventus and AC Milan, the return leg has been postponed for the same reason that Sunday’s Derby d’Italia was postponed, it has been announced late Tuesday night in Italy. That, obviously, is the coronavirus outbreak that has thrown Italy’s sporting calendar — especially that in Serie A — into absolute flux, with days going by and a fixture list only getting more and more crowded as we approach the stretch run of the season.
Reports from La Stampa and Goal Italia two hours earlier in the day first broke the news.
another day, another game starts to look like its on, first behind closed doors, then open to the public [just not from you know where], and then, just like that, it’s off again
— James Horncastle (@JamesHorncastle) March 3, 2020
No possible date for the second leg that was supposed to be played Wednesday night has been reported by the Italian press or announced by any of the governing boards in Italy. Milan currently has more midweek options available since it is not in a European competition, but with Juventus still in the Champions League — for now — there aren’t as many possible dates to replay the second leg. (That is unless Juve get dumped out of the round of 16 by Lyon later this month which is certainly possible after the first leg, but who the hell knows when that game will actually be played at this rate.)
There were reports that the postponed Derby d’Italia was going to be played on Monday, March 9, However, there has been no official announcement as to whether that game will be moved back up to the beginning of next week or remain at its original rescheduled date in May.
Basically, like a lot of what has happened over the past week or so with so many matches being postponed, the coronavirus situation being different from region to region and at what point of the season that we’re entering, the league as a whole is struggling with how to approach going about their business. And because the league is struggling with how to satisfy every club’s best interest, there’s going to continue to be a whole lot of blowback regardless of what actually happens.