Rome, Dec 9 (DPA) The insults that a group of Juventus fans late Tuesday levelled at their club’s team and management topped a series of confrontations and tantrums that lately have busied the chroniclers of the Italian Serie A.
A 4-1 razing from guests Bayern Munich ejected Juve from the Champions League at the group phase, an event that last happened in the 2000/2001 edition and that sparked angry disappointment of about 50 fans at the game’s end.
Italian media Wednesday described the angry targeting of club’s president Jean-Claude Blanc and market manager Alessio Sacco, while Brazilian players Diego and Felipe Melo, two newcomers worth together 50 million euros ($73 million), were loudly hissed already during the game.
After an unsteady start to the season, fan-team relations had improved at the weekend as a 2-1 win over Serie A leaders Inter Milan brought Juve to within five points of the top.
But things look dicey again now, and new young coach Ciro Ferrara and his managers are in for more attacks unless they bring Italy’s most titled club – with 27 scudetti – back to their winning ways.
Inter, meanwhile, need a win from a home tie to Rubin Kazan to be certain of progress in the continental tournament, but are not immune from tensions that, as often happened since he arrived last year, hinge on coach Jose Mourinho.
Former Inter star Sandro Mazzola, now a football commentator, fuelled a verbal row with Mourinho when he said earlier this week that “if Inter were to be eliminated after the game with Rubin Kazan, Jose Mourinho would leave at the end of the year.”
The Portuguese coach’s reply came during a press conference Tuesday, when he appeared to be blunter than usual and wondered if Mazzola was the one who signs his pay cheque.
Mazzola noted that, as a small shareholder of the Italian champions, he indeed pays a minimal part of Mourinho’s rich stipend.
“Since Mourinho is always well informed, well, then he should gather better information,” Mazzola said.
The tone has been much harsher between Parma defender Christian Panucci and Genoa president Enrico Preziosi, who clashed physically after the game the two sides drew 2-2 Sunday.
Bad blood between the two dates to last summer, when, according to Panucci, Preziosi kept him waiting for two days to sign a contract that never materialized.
As the two bickered in the stadium’s parking lot, Preziosi, by his own admission, pushed Panucci, claiming to have been insulted. Earlier during the game, Preziosi had had an altercation with Parma president Tommaso Ghirardi over other market-related issues.
Sampdoria, the other Genoa side, had its share of problems when lingering tension between star playmaker Antonio Cassano and some fans erupted during Tuesday’s training session.
Insults and offensive gestures were exchanged and the footballer left the pitch before his team-mates.
Three straight defeats, Cassano’s poor form and his strange exclusion from the national team may explain a situation that risks damaging the remainder of the season for Samp after some convincing showings that included a 1-0 win over Inter.
The mood isn’t better at lowly Atalanta after three points clinched from six games. The Bergamo-side fans showed up at the team’s camp with banners and chants against players managers and the media, but absolved coach Antonio Conte.
Partly good news came from Udine, where striker Antonio Di Natale admitted to “having set a bad example” when he was red carded at the weekend, receiving a two-game suspension.
Not what you expect from a international leading the scorers’ table on 11 goals.
rounak