The Inter-Roma match, originally scheduled for Saturday evening at 6:00 PM, reportedly caused the Italian League the most significant difficulties concerning its postponement. The delay was due to the passing of Pope Francis.
According to reports from `Sportmediaset`, Inter CEO Giuseppe Marotta requested that the league authorities reschedule the game for the first available date in May. This request was made because Inter were preparing for their Champions League semi-final first leg against Barcelona the following Wednesday. However, the league categorically rejected Inter`s proposal, citing that playing the match in May would have too significant an impact on the Serie A title race.
The league`s concern was that rescheduling to May could potentially allow key Inter players, such as Bastoni and Mkhitaryan, to serve any potential league suspensions against a different, potentially weaker opponent like Verona, instead of missing the more challenging fixture against Roma.
Inter was offered the alternative option to play the match on Saturday evening at 8:45 PM, utilizing a special government exemption. However, the Nerazzurri ultimately decided to observe the period of mourning for Pope Francis and opted to play on Sunday at 3:00 PM instead. Consequently, Inter became the only Italian team to play a domestic league match on the Sunday immediately preceding a Champions League semi-final fixture.