Inter Milan chief Steven Zhang labelled the president of Serie A a “clown” on social media due to the last-minute decisions made by league officials about whether or not matches should be played amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The Italian government has banned sporting events in the country’s most affected regions, which include Milan, and so far 10 Serie A matches have been postponed.
Although the government has given Serie A the option of staging matches behind closed doors, clubs cannot agree on whether that choice is preferable to postponing games altogether.
The death toll in Italy has jumped to 52 and the total number of confirmed cases in Europe’s worst-affected country has climbed past the 2,000 mark.
Serie A said last Thursday that five matches in affected regions would be played behind closed doors at the weekend, then changed its mind on Saturday and postponed them until May 13.
These included Inter Milan’s visit to Juventus which would have been on Sunday night.
The league subsequently also postponed the Serie A game between Sampdoria and Verona that had been scheduled for Monday.
“Playing around the calendar (fixture list) and always putting the public health as a secondary consideration,” said Zhang, 28, in a post on Instagram aimed at Serie A president Paolo Dal Pino.
“24 hours 48 hours, seven days? And what else? What’s your next step? And now you speak about sportsmanship and fair competition?
“Shame on you. It’s time to stand up and take your responsibility! This is what we do in 2020!”
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Neither Dal Pino nor Serie A have so far replied to his comments.