Serie A side Torino failed to make the trip to Rome to face Lazio in the Stadio Olimpico last night due to an enforced quarantine on the team.
The home side were forced to wait for their opponents for 45-minutes before they were eventually awarded a 3-0 win.
Torino were placed under quarantine by regional authorities after eight of the squad had contracted the UK variant of Covid-19. However, Serie A opted against postponing the tie.
The fixture, which was due to kick-off at 17.30 GMT, was considered abandoned after the Turin sides failure to turn up. Lazio were then handed a 3-0 forfeit victory.
“The decision by the league to not postpone the Lazio-Torino game speaks for itself,” said Torino president Urbano Cairo.
Cairo went on to state that the league was “ignoring reality” over their handling of the fixture.
“We’re going to see what happens now. It’s obvious we will appeal. We will take all possible recourse,” added an angry Cairo.
Last night’s debacle is not an outlier in Italian football this season. Much like Torino, Napoli failed to travel to Turin to take on champions Juventus in October as a number of their players had tested positive for Covid-19.
The league also decided to cancel the fixture and awarded Juventus a 3-0 win. The Italian Olympic Committee later overruled the decision.
Head of the Italian Football Federation Gabriele Gravina is seeking clarity from league authorities over their decision.
“This is an act of God, there’s no way they (Torino) can play, and the league needs to get their ideas straight,” said Gravina.
“Imagine if a team decides to go ahead and break their quarantine order, it would be breaking the law,” he added.
