Serie A return 'would boost morale'

With Serie A preparing to follow the Bundesliga's lead by resuming with behind-closed-doors matches, reigning Italian champion Juventus says the restart would provide an "extraordinary" morale boost for the country.

Italy has been one of the hardest hit European countries by the coronavirus, recording over 30,000 COVID-19 deaths to date.

Serie A has been suspended since March 9 but, with lockdown restrictions easing, clubs have been given the green light to resume group training this week and the league has set a return date of June 13, pending government approval.

And after watching the Bundesliga action resume over the weekend, Juventus' Asia-Pacific managing director reckons an Italian kickoff would represent another important milestone in the country's recovery from the pandemic.

"Football for us Italians is very important. It's part of our DNA," Federico Palomba told China Daily.

"This is not an easy moment for the Italian people. It's very sad. And I think that football could help, could help the morale, the mood.

"Of course, we can only play if the conditions are safe enough, but I think it would be an extraordinary boost for people's morale."

Even with Germany's stadiums eerily empty over the weekend, the chance to watch some top-level live action was greeted by a wave of euphoria on social media.

"I've missed soccer so bad. This is really raising my spirits. Thank you Germany," tweeted one fan.

Palomba hopes the feel-good factor will soon extend to Serie A.

"Football in Italy is so important. It's not just about the 90 minutes. You will find people in the bars reading sports newspapers all the time, and talking about football, young people on social media talking about football, it's 24 hours, all day long," he said.

"And I think people are missing this. They are watching a lot of football in a different way－watching highlights, older games, playing video-games. But the return of Serie A would be very, very important. It's a social thing, not just a sports thing.

"I think that life will be kind of normal in Italy when we have football again."