Coronavirus, Italy-Spain flights blocked: Seville-Rome and Inter-Getafe postponed (photo Ansa)
MADRID (SPAIN) – The Spanish government has blocked flights to and from Italy to curb coronavirus infection. This ban led to the postponement of the Europa League games Sevilla-Roma and Inter-Getafe on Thursday. The Champions League match Barcelona-Naples next week remains at risk . The Gazzetta dello Sport, in an article signed by Filippo Maria Ricci, explains this by publishing the decree issued by the Spanish government in its entirety.
"The restrictive measure applies to all direct flights made from the Italian Republic to the Kingdom of Spain, with the exception of state flights, stopovers for non-commercial purposes (therefore without disembarkation or embarkation of passengers), positional flights (therefore without passengers and only to position the aircraft for a later operation), freight flights, flights for humanitarian purposes, medical flights or emergency flights ".
The matches have been postponed because the charter flights normally used by football teams are not among the categories to which a derogation is granted. In order to play these games, the Italian and Spanish teams tried to request a special permit from the Spanish Ministerio de Fomento (development) but the response was negative.
Inter-Getafe and Seville-Rome have been postponed until a later date. UEFA is contacting the clubs to set new dates for these Europa League matches.
Source: Blitz Quotidiano