Lecce directors boycott Atalanta match over postponement call | OneFootball

Lecce’s sporting director and team manager have decided not to attend the club’s upcoming Serie A match away against Atalanta on Sunday evening after a decision to postpone the game when it was originally scheduled to take place on Friday, only to play it two days later in tragic circumstances.

Atalanta-Lecce is one of seven Serie A matches taking place on Sunday due to various postponements over the last week.

You can follow the action from all of them on the Football Italia Liveblog.

Lecce directors boycott Atalanta game over decision to play

While several Serie A matches were postponed following the death and subsequent funeral of Pope Francis this week, the Atalanta-Lecce game was rearranged for a different reason.

On Friday morning, it was confirmed that the team’s longstanding physiotherapist Graziano Fiorita had died during the team’s pre-match training camp. The game scheduled to take place that evening was called off, but will now take place on Sunday evening, just two days after the tragic news broke.

Lecce physiotherapist Graziano Fiorita

Lecce have made it clear that they did not wish to play on Sunday, so soon after the loss of one of their beloved members of staff. Reports on Saturday suggested that the team did not even want to travel to Bergamo for the Atalanta game.

However, reports on Sunday confirm that the team have set off for Bergamo and are due to play against Atalanta at 19.45 BST.

According to updates from TMW, however, Lecce sporting director Stefano Trinchera and team manager Claudio Vino have not travelled with the squad, which is usually a formality.

Additionally, Minister of Sport Andrea Abodi reportedly tried to intervene and arrange another postponement given the troubling few days that Lecce have endured.