Luciano Spalletti will sit out Inter Milan’s Serie A game against Fiorentina at the San Siro on Tuesday after being given a one-match touchline ban by the Lega Serie A for his over-exuberant goal celebration at the weekend.
Spalletti was sent to the stands for screaming towards the television camera after Croatia’s World Cup runner-up Marcelo Brozovic scored a 94th minute winner against Sampdoria on Saturday.
An official match note said that the coach showed “a controversial attitude towards the fourth official”.
Spalletti had already been warned after the game for “offensive expressions” to the referee.
The sending-off against Sampdoria, however, did not lead to an automatic disqualification, it was a decision of the sports judge.
Inter have appealed and hope to have Spalletti back on the bench Tuesday at the San Siro against Fiorentina, as the appeal should be discussed before midday.
“I’m sorry for what happened but I don’t want to add anything else,” Spalletti told a pre-match press conference on Monday and argued that the ban had set a “difficult precedent”.
The last-gasp win followed Inter’s late 2-1 win over Tottenham in the Champions League in the San Siro last week.
“I turned towards the camera to shout ‘goal’ and the fourth official told me I had done it with too much force,” Spalletti said on Saturday.
“It was too important a goal, like a liberation, and they interpreted it as something with too much emotional reaction,” said Spalletti.
“I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The three points gave Inter just their second win of the Serie A season and move Spalletti’s side up to ninth after five games.
“We must not be content, we still have to put the ranking right. We have made progress but we have to make points,” said Spalletti on Monday.
“We previously dropped some points, but now we’ve won two games and made notable steps forward in terms of character.
“There is also the atmosphere of a stadium which will be full once again. The fans always support the players and this will spur us on.
“The San Siro is a very important stadium, and when you play in front of such a crowd you need to be flawless and avoid making mistakes.”
Source::AFP
