Juventus vs Inter to go ahead behind closed doors over coronavirus fears

Serie A chiefs are prepared to play the title clash between Juventus and Inter Milan behind closed doors amid the country’s coronavirus outbreak.

Four top-flight matches were postponed last weekend as northern regions continued to be hit by the illness, seven people dying so far.

According to Italian news agency ANSA, an Italian FA request to play out matches in empty stadiums has been accepted by the government.

This coming Sunday will see Antonio Conte’s Inter, sat in third-place, travel to Turin for a mega meeting with leaders Juventus.

Piedmont is among the regions most affected by the virus and neighbouring Lombardy has seen entire towns shut down to try and contain its spread.

Torino’s match with Parma was cancelled last weekend, as well as Inter’s game against Sampdoria.

Already, the Biscione’s Europa League tie with Bulgarian side Ludogorets on Thursday has been moved behind closed doors.

And Serie A matches also likely to end up in empty stadiums include Udinese-Fiorentina, AC Milan-Genoa, Parma-SPAL, Sassuolo-Brescia and Sampdoria-Hellas Verona.

Games taking place in Lecce, Cagliari, Lazio and Napoli are all far enough away from the outbreak to take place as normal.

Italy is putting heavy measures in place to prevent the virus spreading further with no official reason given as to exactly how it reached the European nation.

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Rugby matches across all levels and age ranges were abandoned on the weekend with the upcoming Pro 14 clashes at Zebre and Benetton among them.

Also up in the air is England’s trip to Rome for the Six Nations on March 14 – a game that reportedly could be switched to Twickenham or Newcastle.