Torino's match vs. Lazio rescheduled after no-show

Rome, March 12, 2021 (AFP) - Italian football chiefs on Friday cleared Torino of any wrongdoing after their failure to travel to Rome for a Serie A game against Lazio because of a coronavirus outbreak at the club.

The league's sports judge Gerardo Mastrandrea said the March 2 game would be rescheduled and that Torino would not be penalised.

On the day of the game, regional authorities in Turin placed Torino under quarantine after eight of their players tested positive for the U.K. variant of COVID-19, but Serie A refused to postpone the match.

The Italian League failed to cancel or reschedule the game at the time, and after a 45-minute wait following the scheduled kick-off, Lazio players were informed by the referee that Torino were considered to have forfeited and that the match had been abandoned.

This decision has now been overturned.

The situation mirrors a previous episode when Napoli were ordered not to travel to Juventus by local health authorities in October.

The club was handed a 3-0 defeat and a one-point deduction, but in December won an appeal at the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI).