Claudio Marchisio has claimed that Napoli would have given Juventus a ‘hard time’, had they managed to turn up for their fixture…

The Azzurri were supposed to come to Turin before the last international break, but were supposedly denied permission to travel by the ASL, while the Old Lady awaited their arrival inside the Allianz Stadium.

The Lega Serie A moved to award our side with a 3-0 win, as well as punishing Napoli with a further one point deduction, a decision which their club has appealed.

It was announced yesterday that their appeal had been denied, and they are now readying a second appeal supposedly, and former Juventus star Marchisio claims Napoli’s fans should be disappointed.

The former midfielder insists that their side would have had a great chance of getting a result had they made the trip, but backs the decision made by the authorities.

The above loosely translates to: ‘If I were a Napoli fan, I would be disappointed today, because on the pitch this team would have given Juventus a hard time. The decision was correct in my opinion, but not ideal for the footballing world.’

Had the decision have been overturned, Napoli would have moved up to second in the Serie A table with 15 points whilst having played a match less, while Juve would have dropped down to ninth in the division, seven behind the leaders.

From a sporting point of view, I would love to see the fixture go ahead, as it looks like the two teams will likely battle it out for the Scudetto come the end of the campaign, and in a close-battle to be champions, the credibility could come into question.

Do my fellow fans think the decision was right? And at the same time do you wish that the fixture could be played regardless?

Patrick