AS ROMA HAVE confirmed they will not travel to Seville for the first leg of their Europa League last-16 clash with Sevilla FC because their plane from Italy is not authorised to land in Spain.

The fixture at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium was already due to take place behind closed doors due to COVID-19 fears.

The Serie A club said in a statement: “Roma will not fly to Spain for Thursday’s Europa League meeting with Sevilla, after the team was declined permission for the plane to land in the region.

“The Giallorossi were due to fly out on Wednesday afternoon for the first leg of the last-16 tie, which was scheduled to take place at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium on Thursday evening.

However, as part of the ongoing response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Spanish authorities would not give permission for the team’s flight from the Italian capital to land in Spain.

Roma also say they are expecting to hear “more details from Uefa soon”.

The Spanish (AFE) and Italian (AIC) players’ unions have asked Uefa that games between Italian and Spanish teams be suspended.

On Tuesday, Italian side Atalanta’s Champions League game at Valencia on Wednesday went ahead as planned, but Getafe are reportedly refusing to travel to Italy to face Inter in their Europa League match on Thursday.

All sport in Italy is currently suspended until 3 April, but this does not include Italian clubs or national teams participating in international competitions. In Spain, La Liga fixtures are set to be played behind closed doors until 15 April.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday afternoon, the Spanish FA confirmed that all football outside of the top two divisions will be suspended for a minimum of two weeks.