Tuesday night’s Coppa Italia quarter-final between Serie A giants Inter Milan and Napoli ended in a 2-0 victory for the Nerazzurri. However, the real story of the night happened on the sidelines, with Inter boss Roberto Mancini accusing his counterpart Maurizio Sarri of spouting racist and homophobic abuse during the game.
When asked about the heated exchange between the two bosses during the game, former Manchester City boss Mancini said:
The confrontation on the touchline? You have to ask Sarri about that, he is a racist. People like him does not belong in football. He used racist words. I stood up to ask about the five minutes being added on and Sarri shouted ‘poof’ and ‘faggot’ at me. I would be proud to be that if he is what’s considered a man.
People like him should not be in football. He is 60 years old. The fourth official heard but didn’t say anything. He came to see me in the changing room to apologise but he should really be ashamed of himself.
The incident ignited on the touchline after the fourth official had erroneously indicated that there would be nine minutes of injury time, before changing it to five. This lead to a war of words between Mancini and Sarri, with both managers eventually sent to the stands.
When asked for his account of the fracas, Sarri claimed “that he could not remember”, which seems rather iffy. And this wouldn’t be his first offence, having previously given us these pearls of wisdom on his perceived softening of the game…
Football has become a sport for fags. We suffered twice as many fouls, but we had more yellow cards. It’s a contact sport in Italy and but the whistle is blown a lot more than in England because of the interpretation by homosexuals.
What vile rubbish. And if Mancini’s account is true, then good on him for highlighting Sarri’s bigotry. Sadly, it seems as though Italian football has still some distance to travel on the path to englightenment.