Italian Serie-A matches postponed over coronavirus fears

ROME: Five Italian Serie-A weekend matches including Sunday’s clash between Juventus and Inter Milan have been postponed due to the coronavirus, the Italian football league said Saturday.

Other matches called off are AC Milan v Genoa, Parma v SPAL, Sassuolo v Brescia, all scheduled for Sunday, and Saturday’s clash between Udinese and Fiorentina, the league said in a statement.

The games will be played on May 13 and the Italian Cup final, scheduled to take place on that day, will be put back to May 20, the league said.

The matches had been scheduled to be played behind closed doors. Italy is the country hardest hit by the virus outbreak, with 900 cases and 21 deaths -- mostly in cities in the north.

The decision had been taken in response to the "exceptional circumstances concerning protection of public health and security", the league said.

Last weekend, four Serie-A matches were postponed with the Hellas Verona v Cagliari and the Torino v Parma matches to be played on March 11. No date has been fixed as yet for the Atalanta v Sassuolo and Inter Milan v Sampdoria games.