A lengthy inquiry by the federal prosecutor has produced a laundry list of breaches of the Coronavirus protocols committed by Lazio between October and November. President Claudio Lotito and doctors Ivo Pulcini and Fabio Rodia will have to answer for them in front of the spots justice in the next few weeks.
The problems stem from a discrepancy between the test results of Synlab, which is used ahead of European matches, and the Futura Diagnostica lab in Avellino, which the club utilizes for domestic purposes, Panorama reports. Few swabs that returned positive in the former were instead negative for the latter. The structure is also under investigation locally.
Lazio are accused of failing to communicate eight positive cases to the local health officials, as it would be mandated to start contact tracing, before the Champions League matches versus Club Brugge and Zenit. The same happened ahead of Torino-Lazio, where one player, asymptomatic but positive, should have been isolated but even took the field and was then on the bench in the following clash with Juventus. Moreover, three footballers that contracted the virus were allowed to practice for a short period of time before being sent home even though the team doctors were aware of the results.
Lazio directors previously defended themselves saying that they operated in good faith and that it was up to the lab to reach out to the local authorities. The possible punishments range from a simple fine to some penalty points to even relegation, if a violation was found to have endangered the health of other people and to have been carried out to influence the outcome of a game or a competition.