Too much snow in Bergamo, Champions League Atalanta-Villareal postponed. The two-hour thrilling tale

“To work, go to work!” After the applause to the players returning to the locker room, with the snow that had won it, and the postponement decreed by the rigorous English referee Anthony Taylor, an impatient and mocking chorus rose from the Curva Nord of the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo. Because at the announcement of the speaker that Atalanta-Villarreal would be moved to the next day, “at a time to be determined”, then made official at 16.30, after a ballet of orders and counter-orders that started at 19, two hours before the scheduled kick-off , the home fans must have understood that, despite the continuing validity of the entrance ticket, they would have had to skip the match from inside or outside the Champions League due to professional commitments. In spite of the agreement between the clubs for 20.30 tomorrow, it will be necessary to play in the afternoon to avoid overlapping with the Europa League for television programming reasons. From there the negotiations for a “more human” and worker-friendly timetable: the initial diktat of Uefa was for 15.00. , decisive for the passage to the round of 16 for the third edition out of three. But UEFA’s management of the event postponed due to bad weather has given rise to some controversy. Even if the weather forecast for a week had ensured snow for the Immaculate Conception with stratification of at least 3 centimeters, the tarpaulins placed on the eve were removed starting at 17.30, when the flakes, which fell from the morning in Bergamo but until then mixed with water, they began to become more consistent. The referee team, which appeared for the first time on the pitch at 7 pm, with Taylor protected by the umbrella of a delegate of the continental federation, declared it impracticable at around 9.15 pm, when the players of the two contenders had already taken leave of the respective supporters, with some of the owners of the Yellow Submarine in slippers under the guest sector. The race director, after a second inspection, had made it clear that after 21.20 it would not be possible to go, as long as the field was completely cleared of the white blanket. And so, everything moved to a weekday afternoon, when most of the local fans will be at work: the protest chorus left the official postponement, which arrived half an hour before tomorrow’s time at 16.30: the tfiosi had almost I foresaw that they could not be present in large numbers the following day. Mockery among mockery, twenty minutes after the postponement the snowfall was practically already over.