Webcams, contradictions, politics and precedents: Why Bologna-Milan farce leaves a sour taste | OneFootball

AC Milan should currently be in the closing stages of their Serie A match against Bologna at the Stadio Renato dall’Ara, but instead it will be played in a few months.

It was on Thursday night that the news first began to circulate regarding the possibility of the match being postponed due to adverse weather in the Emilia region and the prospect of flooding around the stadium.

Throughout Friday various ideas emerged such as playing the match behind closed doors or moving it to a neutral venue, and at one point Milan had plans in place for four different trips to four different cities.

However, the official announcement came yesterday afternoon that it will not be played and the fixture will instead have to be rescheduled. Bologna’s CEO agrees with the decision, but it would be fair to say Milan do not.

A couple of things have come to light which increase the doubts surrounding the decision made to postpone the game, to February or beyond.

The storm that never came

The first point of contention is that the bad weather which was meant to make the game unplayable does not seem to have arrived. Of course there has been rainfall and flooding in some parts, but throughout the day the webcam below has shown grey but not exactly inclement weather.

Moreover, a Milan fan on X (formerly Twitter) posted a video that they claim was taken this afternoon, showing the surrounding areas of the stadium looking very accessible.

It doesn’t even appear as though there would be an issue staging the game with fans let alone behind closed doors, as the potential solution was touted.

The lack of consistency

When the Mayor of Bologna – Matteo Lepore – signed the ordinance to officially mark the Dall’Ara as being unusable, he did so because of concerns about the number of fans who would attend. It became a public order issue, in his eyes.

However, as our journalist Luca Maninetti highlights, there are three other sporting events that are going ahead in Bologna this weekend. The Bologna Boxing, Motor Show and the Primavera game against Udinese are all going ahead.

Setting a precedent

It became apparently soon after the news of the Mayor’s decision to sign the ordinance document to try and get the game postponed that he doesn’t actually have the power to do so. Shocking, we know.

He effectively acted above his station and then is believed to have put pressure on the league to uphold his decision, which was made with presumed autonomy. Milan and Lega Serie A were in favour of playing anywhere, also to safeguard the regularity of the season.

As Il Giornale rightly point out: ‘The postponement, as the office led by Andrea Butti has well understood, is a dangerous precedent for the stability of the season because from today it allows a mayor to suspend, with his own ordinance, a Serie A match’.

Essentially, the paper are correctly stating that if in future a mayor decides that he does not want a game to be played in his city for whatever reason, he can just apply the same process.

Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images

Flawed logic

Let’s dive a bit more into the words of Bologna’s CEO, who spoke about the decision to cancel the game and expressed a favourable opinion.

“There is an objectively difficult situation in the area surrounding the stadium, some structures have also collapsed. There are objective situations that made it difficult to play the match in Bologna, aside from the solidarity of the families in our area,” Fenucci said.

“The postponement seems to me like the wisest choice, because it allows us to protect the match proceeds, part of which will be donated to the people affected.”

He remarks that the important thing in the eyes of the club was to protect the revenues from the game so they could be donated to the victims, yet this is questionable.

The plan remains to donate 50% of the proceeds from the re-arranged game, yet it will be months down the line. Why not get the game on as planned, to secure the money to donate? Or alternatively, do the same donation for the next home game?

The idea that the game was called off because it was a necessary sacrifice in the aid of charity is frankly far from a watertight defence.

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Politics at play

A report from La Repubblica this morning was the first to shed light on the idea of there potentially being a power play from within the Lega meeting yesterday.

They state that the Rossoneri had made themselves available to play anywhere. On the other hand, Bologna did not want to take the field without their home fans, who would have been penalised by the decision to play behind closed doors or at a neutral venue.

A majority in the Lega meeting ultimately voted for the postponement, at the end of a meeting that was ‘first and foremost political’. The paper states that Claudio Lotito – the Lazio president and a historic ally of his Napoli counterpart Aurelio De Laurentiis – campaigned for the postponement.

Who are Milan’s next opponents? Napoli. And why is that important? Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders – two of Paulo Fonseca’s most important players – will miss that important clash through suspension.

Forgive us for perhaps being overly cynical, and of course the safety of everyone – not just football fans – is paramount. Nonetheless, this whole ordeal has left a sour taste.