The Argentine has serious doubts over the conclusion of the 2019-20 league campaign due to COVID-19
Roma midfielder Javier Pastore believes it will be impossible to finish the Serie A season as coronavirus ravages Italy.
Italy has been in lockdown for almost two weeks as its government attempt to contain the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed the lives of more than 4,800 people in the country.
There were over 790 deaths recorded in Italy on Saturday, with sport across the globe put on hold – Serie A has been suspended until at least April while UEFA postponed Euro 2020 until next year.
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Italian Footballers’ Association (AIC) president Damiano Tommasi said the Serie A season could resume in May or June if all goes well amid the COVID-19 emergency, but Pastore has serious doubts over the conclusion of the 2019-20 campaign.
“We’ll see if we play again from this season or the next. To be honest, I think it’ll be impossible to finish the season, as we need at least 20-30 days of training to be ready,” the Argentina international told Radio Impacto.
“All the clubs will lose money, but I think it’s pretty much impossible to resume where we left off. It would mean ending later and later, so having to move the start of the next campaign.
“But we can’t do that, because next summer there’s the Euros, the Copa America, etc.”
Prior to the Serie A hiatus, defending champions Juventus topped the table by one point ahead of Lazio. The last top-flight fixture was between Sassuolo and Brescia, with the former winning 3-0 on March 9.
Despite uncertainty over Serie A’s immediate future, Pastore and his Roma team-mates are doing their best to stay fit during the crisis.
“We can’t train together, but the club has given each player the necessary gym equipment to train at home,” he said.
“We wake up in the morning, weigh ourselves and send the staff all the necessary details, including the time we spent training and the exercises we did. We have to try to maintain muscle tone.”
After seeing things unravel in Italy, Pastore also issued a warning to his native Argentina that the coronavirus cannot be underestimated.
“There will be chaos in Argentina, because people are going to rush to panic-buy and companies will try to make the most of the situation, which doesn’t happen in Italy,” Pastore said.
“Don’t believe the false stories that come out, the truth is this is an illness that is not just dangerous for the elderly. We’ve been dealing with this virus for a month and the problem didn’t seem that important at first, but after two weeks, it was chaos.
“Only supermarkets and pharmacies are open, there are many checks on the street to ensure people aren’t going out.”
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