A visit from Pope Francis has forced a Serie A fixture to be moved.
Benevento's Serie A fixture with Cagliari has been put back 24 hours because the Pope is due to visit the Campania city when the game was originally scheduled to be played.
The Serie A strugglers had been due to meet their relegation rivals at 6 p.m. on March 17, but with the head of the Roman Catholic Church in town, it was feared security forces would be hard pressed to cover both events.
As a result, the Serie A fixture will now take place on Sunday, March 18 at 3 p.m. Udinese's match with Sassuolo, which was originally allocated to that kickoff time, has been brought forward to Saturday evening.
"Considering a request from the national observatory of sports events to postpone the game between Benevento and Cagliari, scheduled for Saturday, March 17 at 6 p.m., in order to favour adequate public order measures for the concomitant religious event which will draw a large crowd from the Province of Benevento, the commissioner Giovanni Malago has ordered the variation of fixtures in the tenth round of fixtures of the second half of the Serie A season," a Lega Serie A statement confirmed.
Benevento are propping up Serie A with just 10 points from 26 games, leaving them currently 11 points adrift of safety. Cagliari have 25 points and are just five above the drop zone.
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Source: espn.co.uk