Five Serie A matches this weekend have been postponed because of coronavirus, including Juventus’ game at home to Inter Milan. Matches at Udinese, AC Milan, Parma and Sassuolo have also fallen victim to the outbreak of the virus in Italy. The games were initially going to be played behind closed doors, but Serie A took the decision on Saturday morning to call them off. All five fixtures have been rescheduled for Wednesday, 13 May. As a consequence, the Coppa Italia final, which was scheduled for the same day, has been moved to the following week on Wednesday, 20 May – four days before the end of the domestic season.

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FIFA president Gianni Infantino has spoken in favour of introducing the ‘daylight’ principle to the offside law to bring extra clarity. There has been a great deal of controversy over offsides in the Premier League this season, with a number of goals ruled out by very fine margins after VAR checks. FIFA’s chief of global football development Arsene Wenger said last week that the law should be changed so that a player is onside if any part of their body that can score a goal is behind or level with the relevant defender, a view which Infantino clearly shares.

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Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich played out one of the most bizarre conclusions in the history of football as they passed the ball between each other for 13 minutes after a long delay for an offensive banner in the crowd. Bayern were 6-0 up when their travelling fans unfurled an offensive banner about Hoffenheim president Dietmar Hopp. Coach Hansi Flick and most of the players pleaded – angrily in some cases – with the fans to put it away. Sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic and board member Oliver Kahn – both former players – also attempted to talk to the ultras.

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Liverpool’s hopes of remaining unbeaten for an entire Premier League season were ended in sensational style by a rampant Watford at Vicarage Road. Ismaila Sarr scored twice while captain Troy Deeney added a third in a sparkling second-half display from the hosts as Liverpool’s run of victories was brought to a shuddering halt. The Reds had won their past 18 Premier League games and another at Vicarage Road would have made history as the longest winning run in the English top flight. But they never got going against a Watford side who were superb from start to finish.

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