Genoa demand Torino match be postponed after 14 coronavirus cases

UEFA rules state that a match can take place as long as a team can count on 13 healthy players, including a goalkeeper, but Genoa's sporting director Daniele Faggiani said that his players cannot prepare for Saturday's home match as the players are self-isolating.

"We are all in home quarantine. The local health authorities have stopped us. We cannot play Saturday against Torino even with 13 players available. Without training we have to postpone the match," Genoa sporting director Daniele Faggiani told Naples-based Radio Kiss Kiss.

Goalkeeper Mattia Perin and midfielder Lasse Schone missed Genoa's 6-0 Serie A defeat at Napoli on Sunday after contracting Covid-19, and 12 others returned positive tests after the game. Napoli announced on Wednesday that all swabs carried out on their players had come back negative.

Italian media report that Genoa say a second round of tests confirmed the 14 positives cases that the club had originally announced on Monday. Undersecretary at the Italian Ministry of Health Sandra Zampa had caused a storm when she called for the league to be "suspended" after the cluster of Genoa cases. "The protocols are clear, the championship must be suspended," said Zampa.

She later clarified in a statement: "I said that players positive for Covid-19 could not play until they test negative. This does not mean that Serie A should be suspended, it will be for the Federation and the League to decide".

Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora, meanwhile, said on Wednesday that "the conditions to stop the championship have not been met".