The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has opened proceedings against Juventus Turin coach Massimiliano Allegri, who insulted and threatened the director of a sports daily after the Italian Cup final on Wednesday, said Friday to the AFP the FIGC.
At the same time, Juve is reportedly studying the possibility of dismissing its coach, under pressure for several weeks, for “serious misconduct” even before the end of the season, according to the Italian press.
“There is an ongoing investigation into everything that happened after the match at the stadium, not just what happened with Guido Vaciago,” explained an FIGC spokesperson.
After the final won by Juve against Atalanta (1-0) on Wednesday evening, Allegri insulted the director of the Turin sports daily Tuttosport whom he met in the corridors of the Olympic Stadium on the way to the press conference of post-match.
According to Guido Vaciago’s account of the incident in the columns of his newspaper on Thursday, Allegri repeatedly called him “shit director.”
“Write the truth in your diary, not just what the club tells you,” he said.
Also read: Italian Cup: “My blood stroke? It’s normal in a final,” quips Allegri
The coach then threatened him, in front of other journalists and Juve officials, with physical violence: “I will tear off both your ears. I’m going to punch you in the face,” Vaciago continued in his story.
In a press release sent to the press on Thursday by his lawyer Me Paolo Rodella, Allegri “denied this reconstruction of the facts in their entirety and wishes to clarify that he simply had a heated verbal altercation with the director, due to the excitement of the moment, during which both insulted each other loudly.
Allegri, 56, already received a two-match suspension for the next Italian Cup on Thursday after his exclusion in added time for his threatening behavior towards the referees.
He could be sanctioned for all competitions for violation of article 4 of the FIGC sports justice code.
Before his upset in the Italian Cup final, he was already under pressure due to his team’s disappointing results in the league. Juve has fallen from 2nd to 4th place since January, with only two victories in its last fifteen matches.
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