Maurizio Sarri defends Juventus fans as Lyon try to ban support over coronavirus

Maurizio Sarri has defended Juventus fans' right to travel to Lyon despite fears over coronavirus in Italy

Juventus boss Maurizio Sarri insists Juventus fans should be allowed to travel to Lyon this evening despite fears over the coronavirus outbreak.

11 people have died in the country so far, with tourists and fans being warned against travelling to northern Italy due to the amount of cases recorded in Milan and surrounding towns.

Games in Italy will be played behind closed doors this weekend, as well as AC Milan's Europa League clash with Ludogorets tomorrow.

But Laurent Fautra, the mayor of Decines, where Lyon's Groupama stadium is located, and Christophe Quiniou, his counterpart, both tried to get French authorities to ban Juventus fans from travelling for tonight's Champions League game.

• 

  Dele Alli charged after posting controversial coronavirus video

• 

  Napoli make coronavirus stadium decision as Serie A order five matches behind closed doors

Something that Sarri was not happy with.

"European problem, not an Italian problem," he said this week.

"Obviously we have to confront the problem and the authorities need to firstly contain it.

"In Italy we have done 3,500 tests and we have a certain number of positive cases.

"In France about 300 tests have been done, so probably if they had done as many tests as us there would be as many positive cases."

Five Serie A matches will be played behind closed doors this weekend.

• 

  Ireland's Six Nations clash with Italy postponed due to coronavirus fears

And a number of games were postponed last week in Italy.

"The government is working on urgent measures to decisively confront and contain the cases of coronavirus contagion," read a letter from Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora.

"Following measures taken by the cabinet for protective reasons and maximum precaution, on orders of the government, I am asking you to suspend all sports events of every level and discipline planned for the Lombardy and Veneto regions on Sunday."

Also, Italy's Six Nations rugby clash with Ireland has been postponed after the recent outbreak.

Read More

Today's top football stories on Daily Star

"Ireland v Italy international matches should not proceed in the interests of public health," Philip Browne, the head of the Irish Rugby Football Union said.

"The IRFU is perfectly happy to comply with this instruction. We will work with Six Nations partners to look at the possibility of rescheduling those three matches and we hope to have an update on that in the coming days.

"At the outset we made it clear that the IRFU was supportive of the governments' need to protect public health in relation to the coronavirus."

Source: Read Full Article