GdS: Why Milan were left angry at Bologna Mayor and Serie A after postponement | OneFootball

AC Milan should current be preparing for a game against Bologna at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, and yet yesterday’s chaos led to an eventual postponement.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write this morning, yesterday was a very long day that ended with the decision of the Lega Serie A to ‘listen’ to the ordinance of the mayor of Bologna Matteo Lepore and to postpone Bologna-Milan.

“The Lega Serie A takes note of the Ordinance of the Mayor of Bologna n. 761919/2024, which does not allow the match to be played even behind closed doors, postponing it to a date to be determined,” the official press release said.

There was a long discussion before arriving at this decision. Earlier in the morning there was a meeting between the mayor of Bologna and the prefect of the city, from which it emerged that the Dall’Ara would not be open and therefore the most logical option of playing Bologna-Milan behind closed doors fell through.

At that point the Lega Serie A met and searched for several hours for a neutral venue on which to play the match (Como was first discussed and then Empoli). However, there were too many issues to resolve and so in the end it was decided to postpone the match to a date to be determined.

Given the hectic calendar for both teams, it will not be easy to find a day for the rescheduling. It will certainly not be possible to play it before February, according to the paper, which means four months down the line.

On the one hand Bologna were satisfied with the postponement as their CEO said: “A wise choice. We would like the stadium full to give them half of the proceeds. Closed doors are always a defeat for the football system.”

On the other hand Milan are instead stunned and furious about this decision, as Paolo Scaroni admitted: “An incomprehensible decision, the Mayor has prohibited the match behind closed doors. I do not understand why, but in the face of an institutional ordinance we lower our heads.”]

In the eyes of Milan, the first person responsible for such an illogical choice is obviously the mayor Lepore, but the leaders are convinced that even Lega Serie A could have done more.

For example, they could have hurried to convene an urgent meeting and indicate already on Thursday evening a stadium that could have hosted the teams. In the end, however, the mayor’s order prevailed and so today Bologna-Milan will not be played at the Dall’Ara, nor anywhere else.