MILAN: Cristiano Ronaldo attempted to add levity to a troubling situation in coronavirus-struck Italy before helping Juventus to a 2-0 win over Inter Milan in Serie A on Sunday.

The Derby d’Italia, one of the season’s biggest matches, had to be played without fans and with only a limited number of people because of the virus outbreak in Italy.

When Ronaldo got off the team bus inside the stadium, he pretended to high-five imaginary mascots something he normally does with the actual mascots before smiling at the cameras.

Aaron Ramsey scored and set up the other goal for Paulo Dybala as the match finally went ahead, a week late due to the spread of the new virus in Italy which has claimed the lives of over 350 people.

Juve moved back to the top of the table, a point above Lazio. Inter are third, nine points behind the Bianconeri following a miserable return for coach Antonio Conte.

“An important victory, even if there are still many matches to play, in theory,” Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri said.

Sarri’s use of the phrase in theory could prove significant after calls for the Serie A season to be suspended.

“The know-it-alls scare me, I can’t say what’s right to do, Sarri added. “But I ask myself if it’s right to take away a two-hour diversion in front of the television for those who have to stay at home. We don’t feel scared, but I can’t say how high the risk is.”

The match was played in an empty stadium — including no mascots — following last week’s decree from the Italian government that all sporting events in Italy must take place without spectators until April 3.

That led to Thursday’s decision that the Italian soccer league would resume in full this weekend, starting with the matches that were postponed last round because of the outbreak.

No fans meant there was no fiery welcome for Conte, who was returning to Juve for the first time as opposition coach. Conte, who left in 2014, led Juve to the first three of their eight straight league titles and also spent most of his playing career with the Bianconeri.

The voices of players and coaches could clearly be heard and, despite the lack of fans, there was plenty of intensity and passion shown on the field.

Douglas Costa went closest in a tight first half, but was denied by an excellent save from Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.

The hosts broke the deadlock 10 minutes after the break, as Ronaldo got to a low ball first inside the box, with it then falling kindly for Ramsey to sweep a low shot into the net from close range.

It was the Wales midfielder’s fourth goal of the season after joining Juve from Arsenal last year.

The 29-year-old created his side’s second goal 12 minutes later, playing a neat one-two with following a delightful team move. Dybala then feinted past Inter defender Ashley Young before shooting into the bottom left corner.

Inter substitute Christian Eriksen went close to pulling one back when he drilled a shot narrowly over the crossbar.

Things went from bad to worse for the away side when Daniele Padelli, sitting on the substitutes’ bench, was shown a red card for dissent.

Earlier in the day, Italian sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora called for the league season to be put on hold.

His statement caused chaos at the early game between SPAL and Parma, with confused players sent back to the dressing rooms from the tunnel before eventually taking to the field 75 minutes after the scheduled kick-off. SPAL won 1-0.

Reports in Italy late on Sunday suggested that the Serie A season could even be suspended on Tuesday once government officials have met with league and player representatives.

Italians woke up to discover the entire Lombardy region around Milan and other parts of the north in which a quarter of all Italians live — and most big teams play — under lockdown.

Italian Footballers’ Association president Damiano Tommasi tweeted that “stopping football is the most useful thing for our country right now”.

“The teams to cheer are playing in our hospitals, in emergency rooms,” Tommasi wrote.

Spadafora quickly sounded his own support for the idea of suspending the season right away.

“The FIGC [Italian Football Federation] should consider immediately STOP­PING Serie A,” Spadafora wrote on Facebook.

Elsewhere on the pitch, Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s fourth goal since returning to AC Milan could not prevent the seven-time European champions from slipping to a 2-1 loss at home to struggling Genoa.

Ibrahimovic, who had two other good chances, scored from close range 13 minutes from time to set up a tense finale after first-half goals from Goran Pandev and Francesco Cassata for Genoa.

The result added to Milan’s troubling week. They fired chief football officer Zvonimir Boban on Saturday.

A select number of journalists were among the few allowed into the stadium and they were each given a small bottle of hand sanitizer by Milan.

Milan remained seventh, while Genoa climbed out of the relegation zone, alth­ough they remained level on points with 18th-placed Lecce.

Sampdoria moved one point above the drop zone after they came from behind to beat Hellas Verona 2-1. Udinese drew 0-0 with Fiore­ntina.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2020