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| - Napoli had reportedly not left for Turin a few hours before the kick-off of their Serie A game against Juventus later Sunday, despite the Italian league insisting it was safe to play despite two coronavirus cases. "No, everything is like Saturday," a club spokesman told AFP asked about a possible departure for Turin, hours before kickoff. The Lega Serie A insisted that all the health protocols were in place for the match to safely go ahead as scheduled for Turin at 1845 GMT. "The protocol provides...rules, which allow the playing of league matches even in the event of a positive tests, fielding the players who tested negative," the Lega Serie A said. These measures are "applicable to the situation of Napoli, which has two positive players for Covid-19," the Liga Serie A added. The Italian league said that other matches had gone ahead this season despite positive cases such as the game between Torino and Atalanta and AC Milan against Crotone. Gennaro Gattuso's side now count Macedonian midfielder Eljif Elmas and Poland international Piotr Zielinski with the virus. The team did not leave as planned Saturday evening from Naples because of measures of regional health authorities. The league said it had "a precise rule to be adopted in the event of multiple positives that can lead to the postponement of matches only upon the occurrence of certain conditions which, at the moment, do not apply to the case of Naples." Juventus confirmed they would "take to the field" as scheduled despite two positive tests among their staff with coach Andrea Pirlo naming his match-day squad. If Napoli do not play Gattuso's side, who had won both their Serie A matches so far this season, would forfeit the game 3-0. The league are applying UEFA rules that say a match can take place as long as a side have 13 healthy players, including a goalkeeper. The only possible exemption would be a club which has an active outbreak of Covid-19 with more than ten new positive cases in a week. In that case the club can request a postponement, but only once in the season. Genoa's game against Torino on Saturday was postponed with the Ligurian club, who lost 6-0 to Napoli last weekend, counting 22 cases, including 17 players. alu-ea/pb
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