Coronavirus: Juve fans won't accept title if Serie A cancelled
Juventus president Andrea Agnelli appeared to agree with the sentiment among Old Lady supporters that the title should be left vacant as it stands.
Juventus fans have started a campaign for the current Serie A leaders to turn down the 2019-20 title if the season remains unfinished due to the shut down of sport during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in Europe. Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates have displayed their solidarity by accepting pay cuts during the Covid-19 crisis and the feeling among fans of the Old Lady is that refusing the Scudetto is the only correct course of action if it proves impossible to complete the current campaign.
"It would be wonderful if we are awarded the title based on the current standings. And it would be even better if we said; no thanks," read one message on social media and Andrea Agnelli, the club's president, agreed with the sentiment, adding a "like" to the post.
There are still a number of options on the table to see out the 2019-20 season in Italy but after all sporting events were cancelled for the whole of April in response to the coronavirus crisis, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that the campaign will end normally. As it stands, Juventus lead Serie A by a single point from Lazio with Inter nine points adrift in third but with a game in hand over the top two.
Spezia's 1944 Scudetto precedent
One of the solutions put forward is the most obvious and easiest to achieve: simply halting the season now. But that is a situation that the vast majority of fans don't want including Juventus supporters, who feel that being gifted the title with 12 games to play would not be the right thing to do. The last comparable situation took place in 1944, when Spezia won the Campionato Alta Italia. Although not recognized as a Scudetto victory, the southern Italian side were awarded an honorary title in 2002.
Agnelli has been a vocal supporter of prioritising national leagues over continental concerns and has expressed his opinion to UEFA that domestic competitions should be finished before any others. And although he has made no official announcement regarding the Scudetto, it appears that Agnelli shares the sentiment of fans that it should be left vacant this year if all games are not completed.
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