La Verita: Bologna-Milan postponement solely political as it didn’t even rain – the background | OneFootball

AC Milan’s game against Bologna, initially scheduled for Saturday evening, was postponed due to weather warnings. However, as the sun came out on gameday, it became clear that the decision was solely political.

Milan were left feeling very frustrated with Bologna and Lega Serie A after attempting to play the game behind closed doors, or even at a neutral venue. All to no avail, as Rossoblu club officials even backed the decision of their mayor Matteo Lepore, who clearly did it for political reasons.

Today’s edition of La Verita, as cited by MilanNews, discussed the matter at great length. “Matteo Lepore’s imperious gesture has shown the fragility of a system that is based on compromises and weaknesses, and is subject to the ancient law of the cattle fair: whoever shouts the loudest takes home the cow,” writes the journalist Giorgio Gandola.

All of the conditions were in place to play the game: the stadium, Renato Dall’Ara, was completely accessible especially since the weather ended up being 18 degrees and sunny. Indeed, there was no rain in Bologna, which was the whole supposed reason behind the postponement.

At most, it should have been a decision for the referee Maurizio Mariani to make on the pitch, whether it was playable or not. It certainly shouldn’t have been a decision for people who only have political motivations to make.

Without a doubt, as La Verita continues, Lepore’s decision was entirely political: the aim was to force the hand of the Meloni government, which until then had been reluctant to grant another ‘state of natural disaster’.

Blame was also placed on climate change, which the Bologna city council “tends to place all the blame for its own inadequacy”. If the decision hadn’t been political, then Lepore also would have stopped the other events of the weekend in the city, which took place regularly, such as the ‘Bologna boxing night’ and the ‘L’Auto moto show’.

Serie A certainly doesn’t come out of this well either, having allowed itself to be exploited by the mayor while failing to assert its independence. While it’s true that you cannot go against an ordinance not to use a stadium, they could have at least clung to the rules and awarded Milan the 3-0 win by default, especially since playing behind closed doors or at a neutral venue was also rejected by Bologna.

Bologna are also losers in this, citing the inability to donate ticket proceeds from the game to flood victims as one of the reasons. Couldn’t half of the proceeds from the Champions League match against Monaco have been donated? Or from the league matches against Lecce and Venezia? In this way, the charity fundraiser was moved to the recovery date, potentially at the end of February.

Of course, Milan also lost, having to play against Napoli without Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders due to suspension. Furthermore, president Paolo Scaroni was unable to assert the club’s rights and this is something that never would have happened with Silvio Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani.