Napoli head coach Maurizio Sarri has been banned for two Coppa Italia games and fined £15,000 for using “heavily insulting” language towards Inter boss Roberto Mancini.
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Sarri denied his comments were homophobic, saying: “I was just irritable …”
“The sporting judge’s decision formally confirms the absence of any racist or anti-gay connotation in the words uttered by coach Sarri in the direction of the opposition coach”, read the statement.
Sarri is alleged to have hurled derogatory insults towards Mancini during his side’s 2-0 defeat against Inter in the Coppa Italia quarter-final, with the Napoli coach admitting afterwards that he had hurled homophobic insults towards his opposite number when he queried the fourth official regarding the number of additional minutes. As I wrote on Tuesday evening, I’m not asking for Sarri to be kicked out of football or anything absurd like that, but given that this is the second occasion on which he has used homophobic language* it is clear that he needs to be educated on this matter. It is reported that Saarri used certain words which convey discrimination against homoerotism.
Sarri was cleared of the homophobia and racism allegations after a disciplinary hearing, but has been banned for two matches for the incident.
“I don’t ask people to share my way of being, but I demand respect”.
“This is why I would like a line to be drawn under this whole story, which has already been manipulated far too much”.
“I can’t remember [my exact words], it’s possible [I used that language]”.
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Inter and Napoli meet again at the San Siro on April 17.
