Bologna-Milan it won’t be played today and this is now official. But when can the match be recovered? To date, the tender is at a date to be determined and in Serie A League the hunt for a solution has begun. The main hypothesis, at present, points to February. The president spoke about it on the sidelines of today’s meeting Lorenzo Casini: “At the moment, calendar in hand, the month in which it will be possible to recover the match is February. There would be Christmas day – joked the number one of the League – as a hypothesis, but we are evaluating where to move”.
Everything will depend on the Italian Cup and the Champions League. The slots that can be hypothesized in January are already excluded and booked by Serie A recoveries linked to the Super Cup. What makes the game of puzzles particularly complicated is the participation of both Bologna and Milan in the top continental competition, with the risk – or hope, depending on your point of view – of having to play in the play-offs. In the event that even just one of the two finishes between 9th and 24th place in the maxi-ranking, both 11-12 and 18-19 February would be excluded. Then there is the Italian Cup to consider: Bologna and Milan will be involved in the round of 16 on 3 December, against Monza and Sassuolo respectively. If both were released, the recovery could be scheduled as early as February 5th: a date which, on paper, would remain valid even in the event of the next round being passed. The quarter-finals of the competition are scheduled for February 5th and 26th: by scheduling those that involve Milan and/or Bologna on the 26th, the issue could be resolved at the beginning of the month.
If, for television or other reasons, this is not possible, it would have to go to March – conceivable only with the elimination of Milan and Bologna from the Champions League – or even to 3 April. From this point of view, the feared probability of the short distance compared to the return match, Milan-Bologna scheduled for 11 May, would not arise: the distance of eight days concerns the rules on compiling the calendar, not the cases of postponement.
Move Verona-Milan? At the moment, Casini has made it clear, it is not an option considered by the League. Also counterintuitively: the race is scheduled for Friday 20 December, with coverage only of Dazn. Moving it to Saturday or Sunday wouldn’t seem like a big problem, at that point planning Bologna-Milan for December 18th. However, when two Italian Cup matches are scheduled, Atalanta-Como at 6.30pm and Roma-Sampdoria at 9pm: even overcoming the objections of Dazn – and the organizational and competitive ones of the clubs – linked to the chain shift of the entire championship day, would take over those of Mediaset who may not like the overlap of an event on dates already chosen some time ago. We will see if the League will rethink this aspect, or if it will also take into consideration December 24tha day on which professional football matches have already been played and which would not create particular problems compared to the further commitments of Milan or Bologna.